The Flower and The Heart
by Nathan Lane-Beatles Luvr
Summary: "She's Venkman's little sister! Off limits!" he tells himself. "He's Peter's best friend!" she tells herself. "Nothing can ever happen," they both tell themselves. But that doesn't mean that their hearts will listen to their minds. Follow Rose Venkman and Ray Stantz as they fall in love and danger during the Ghostbusters' first big showdown with the paranormal.
1. Chapter 1

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS, OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS.**

**Chapter 1**

Rose Venkman walked up the steps to Weaver Hall with excitement bubbling in her stomach. She was finally going to see and work for her older brother, Peter.

The last time that she had seen Peter, she was 15 years old. She was 22 now. It had been a very long time, and she knew that even though Peter would recognize her, she knew that Ray and Egon most likely wouldn't.

And that was what would make it so much fun.

She adored Ray and Egon just as much as she adored her brother. Ray was really sweet and adorable. He was basically Rose's dream guy, but nothing had ever nor ever will happen between them. No matter how much she wanted something to.

And Egon...well, getting to know Egon was a little harder because he was so quiet and standoffish, but he was a really nice guy once you did get to know him. Rose eventually came to consider Egon as something of a second brother.

Rose walked through the hallways and just arrived outside the door to the Psychology Department Laboratory. No sooner had she reached the door than she heard two people arguing.

"You volunteered, didn't you? We're paying you, aren't we?"

Hearing that voice gave her a little thrill; that voice was unmistakably Peter's.

"Yeah, but I didn't know you going to be giving me electric shocks!" That voice she didn't recognize. More than likely, that voice belonged to one of Peter's parapsychology students.

_Electric shocks? Peter what the hell are you doing in there?_

However, Rose knew better than to just waltz in during an experiment.

"What are you trying to prove here anyway?" the boy shouted.

Peter, however, remained perfectly calm. "I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on ESP ability."

_So, basically he's putting this student through an electric shock treatment to see if he's psychic. Only Peter_, Rose thought, rolling her eyes.

She leaned up against the wall and listened to the student freak out. "The effect? I'll tell you what the effect is! IT'S PISSING ME OFF!"

"Well, then maybe my theory is CORRECT!" Peter shouted right back. _And there goes Peter's patience. Not like he had a whole lot in the first place, anyway._

"You can keep the five bucks, I've had it!"

"I will, Mister!"

And then, the door flew open and the boy walked out, shutting it behind him. He turned to Rose and said, "I wouldn't listen to anything that guy says. He's a complete fraud! The girl in there should have left when I did."

Rose tried not to flip her lid, but it was hard when someone insulted her brother like that. But...there's a girl in there? Well, that clears up everything.

"Oh, he's not a fraud. He's just an enormous flirt."

"Is that what he was doing?"

"Probably, if the girl in there is pretty."

"She is."

"Then, yes, that's what he was doing."

The boy rolled his eyes and walked off after saying goodbye to Rose. Rose started listening in again just in time to hear Peter say, "You may as well get used to that. It's the kind of resentment that your ability is going to provoke in some people."

Rose tried not to double over with laughter as she leaned up against the doorframe. However, that became very hard when the girl said, "Do you think I have it, Dr. Venkman?"

Rose bit her lip in an effort to remain silent and kept listening. But then Ray walked up to the door, very excited, and noticed her trying not to laugh. All attention that had been aimed at eavesdropping on Peter's conversation flew out the window when she saw him.

He looked at her and smiled. "Uh, hi...are you one of our students?"

_Ray really doesn't recognize me at all. Oh, this is going to be good_.

Rose smiled and shook her head. Ray looked at her before a dismayed look crossed his face. "Oh, no...are you one of the students that Venkman conned into the "experiment"? You would be just his type."

Rose was really trying with all her might not to laugh and shook her head again. "No, she's in there already. The boy left just a couple of minutes ago."

"Oh," Ray said. It may have been her imagination, but Ray seemed to be a little happier once she told him this. "Then who are you? You look familiar...have we met?"

He seemed a little impatient to get in there, so of course, Rose decided to make him guess who she was.

"Oh, think about it for a minute. It'll come to you." She smiled at him and Ray's eyes went wide.

"_Rose_? Rose Venkman?" Ray said, with an astounded look in his eyes.

"Hey, Ray."

"Rose! Is it really you?"

"Yeah, Ray, it's me." Ray smiled and scooped her into a bear hug. Rose blushed a little and wrapped her arms around Ray's middle.

"It's so good to see you," Ray said, still holding Rose tightly.

"It's good to see you, too, Ray. It's been too long. But, uh, as much as I love being bear hugged by you, I'm kinda running out of oxygen." _Oh my god, did I really just say that? Okay, keep cool._

"Oh! Sorry." Ray released her, blushing like nobody's business. Rose smiled at him and Ray's face went from light pink to bright red. Ray cleared his throat and said, "So, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, Peter asked me if I wanted to come work for you guys."

"Ah...so are you...? I mean to say...uh, are you accepting the offer?" Ray stammered. Rose wondered what was up with him.

"Ray...I said yes the second that Peter asked me."

"Really? That's great!" Ray's voice went up about an octave. Rose frowned a little and said, "Are you all right, Ray?"

Ray nodded and said, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Okay..." Rose didn't believe him for a second but didn't have time to say anything else on the matter because Ray grabbed her hand and pulled her into the lab.

"This is it! This is definitely it!" Ray said to Peter as he entered the room. Ray pulled Rose around with him and didn't seem to realize it. He let go of her hand when he started talking to Peter again.

"Did those UV lenses come in for the video camera? And that blank tape? I need it. The one you erased yesterday."

Peter grinned when he saw Rose and then turned to the girl. "Can you excuse me for a second?"

"Sure," she said. Peter got up and walked over to Ray. He jumped up in the air and smacked Ray over the head. "I'm right in the MIDDLE of something Ray!"

Peter looked back at the girl and said, "Uh, I need a little more time with this subject, Ray. Could you come back in an hour, hour and a half?"

Ray looked at Rose and she shrugged.

"Peter, at 1:40 PM, at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people witnessed a free floating, full torso, vaporous apparition."

Ray's voice became constricted with excitement when he described the ghost. Rose had to admit, that was pretty awesome. She was as into the paranormal as Ray, although perhaps not as dedicated to it.

"It blew books off shelves from twenty feet away and scared the socks off some poor librarian!" Rose was finding it hard not to giggle too much. Ray was just too adorable for his own good sometimes.

Peter's voice became unemotional and sarcastic...something it did very often. "I'm very excited, I'm very pleased. I want you to get right down there, check it out, get right back to me."

"No, no," Ray started.

"Get right back to me." Rose gave Peter a look and said in deadly quiet voice, "Peter Venkman, you stop trying to rob the cradle and go help your friends...do you hear me?"

Peter looked annoyed and Ray smiled at Rose thankfully and said, "You're coming with us on this one. Spengler went down there, he took PKE valences. Went right off the top of the scale. Buried the needle. We're close on this one. I can feel it!"

Ray walked past Peter and Rose followed him but they stopped in the doorframe and waited for Peter.

"I can feel it. We're very, very close," Peter muttered. He sat back down next to the girl and said, "I have to go now, Jennifer, but I'd like to work with you again some more. Perhaps you could come back this evening, say at..."

"Eight o'clock?" Jennifer suggested.

"I was just about to say, eight o'clock! You are a legitimate phenomenon!" Peter said, obviously flirting with Jennifer, although she seemed oblivious to this fact. Ray and Rose looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Peter's behavior.

Jennifer got up and left and Peter turned to Ray and Rose with a thoroughly annoyed expression. However, he softened when he saw Rose smiling at him.

"Hiya, Pete!" Rose said, grinning at her older brother like a complete idiot. Peter smiled and said, "I wanna be mad at you, but damn, it's good to see you, kiddo! C'mere!"

Rose happily jumped into her brother's embrace and Peter picked her up while hugging her.

"Oh, Rosie. Look at you," Peter said, looking at her. "You're so beautiful. You've really grown up, kid."

Rose smiled and said, "I should hope so, Peter, after 7 years!"

"God, has it really been that long?"

Rose nodded and Peter said, "I can't be mad at you, Rose, but , you Ray, you're a different story."

And with that Peter started chewing Ray out for interrupting his flirtation with Jennifer. As they finally walked up the stairs to the NY Public Library, Peter said, "As a friend, I have to say, you've finally gone round the bend with this ghost business."

Rose was walking next to Ray with Peter on his other side.

Ray looked at Peter, who said, "You guys have been running your ass off meeting and greeting every schizo in the Five Burroughs who says he has a paranormal experience. What have you seen?"

"Oh, leave him alone, Peter. At least he's dedicated to something other than getting into coeds' pants!" Rose snapped. Peter looked a little offended and Ray smiled gratefully at Rose.

"Thank you, Rose. At least one Venkman is interested in our business."

They walked through the main doors of the Library and Ray turned to Peter and said, "Of course, you forget, Peter, that I was present at an undersea, unexplained, mass sponge migration."

"Seriously?" Rose asked. Ray nodded and Peter said, "Oh, Ray, those sponges migrated about a foot and a half."

Peter started sneaking up behind a man sitting on the ground while wearing headphones and investigating a table with some sort of device, which Rose guessed was the PKE meter.

Peter tapped the table with his knuckles and said in a spooky voice, "Egooonnn."

Rose rolled her eyes at Peter as Egon straightened up and Peter slammed a heavy book onto the table, making Egon jump. He took off the headphones and stood up. "Oh you're here," he said. Egon turned around and smiled slightly when he saw Rose.

"Rose! Nice to see you."

Rose smiled and hugged the much taller man. He awkwardly returned the hug and Rose released him, knowing that too much human contact made Egon uncomfortable. Egon turned to Peter who said, "Yeah, what've you got?"

"This is big, Peter. This is very big. There is definitely something here."

"Egon, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. You remember that?"

Rose thought Peter was joking around until Egon said, "That would have worked, if you hadn't stopped me."

Rose looked at Ray with a very alarmed look on her face. Ray looked at her and just shrugged, "That's just Egon for you. A lot of stuff happened since we last saw you, Rose."

Rose nodded and said, "I guess so. Well, at least working for you guys won't be dull!" She walked off after shooting Ray another brilliant smile. Ray felt his heart skip a beat and he mentally kicked himself.

_That's Venkman's little sister! She's off limits! Not to mention, a girl like her...she'd never be interested in a guy like me._ Ray thought.

She really was beautiful, Ray told himself. She didn't look a thing like Venkman, which was a good thing. She had short dark hair, and ocean blue eyes, and a smile that could light up the darkest room. She wasn't very tall, but she wasn't short either. She wasn't deathly skinny like some girls...she was just perfect. And it wasn't just her outer appearance that had Ray's heart pounding.

She was extraordinarily brilliant, almost genius level. She had a great sense of humor, like Peter, but wasn't as sarcastic as her brother.

But no matter what Ray thought of her, he had to accept that she would never think of him as anything more than a friend, if even that. Ray sighed and walked along next to Rose again. He looked at her sideways and again felt his heartbeat quicken. He wanted nothing more than to take her hand again like he had outside of the lab, but he was too shy. Outside the lab, that had been completely spontaneous and out of character for him.

However, it didn't matter what Ray was or wasn't going to do, as the library administrator walked up to them.

_Here we go_, Ray thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS, OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS.**

_**AN: I should mention that this story will bounce from Ray's thoughts to Rose's thoughts. I'll try to make it as least confusing as possible, but I can't guarantee anything. Also, I will have to change some lines a little bit to make Rose fit in. It shouldn't be anything major, so don't worry. Just a little tweak here and there.**_

**Chapter 2**

"Hello," a man said, walking up behind their group. Rose turned to look at him and a spark of attraction flickered in his eyes. Ray resisted the urge to pound the jerk who dared to look at _his_ Rose like that.

_Whoa, calm down, Ray. She isn't 'yours'. And I doubt that she would appreciate you staking claim on her like that._ Ray thought to himself, trying to relax his jealousy.

"I'm Roger Delicour. Are you the men - and lady- from the University?" he said, his eyes again flickering towards Rose. She tried her very best not to roll her eyes. However, she did move a little closer to Ray, who felt his heart swell with happiness that Rose actually wanted to be near him.

"Yes," Peter said, drawing Delicour's attention away from Rose. "I'm Dr. Venkman." They shook hands and Peter gestured to Ray and Egon and said, "Dr. Stantz. Egon."

"Ah, and you are, madam?" Delicour said to Rose.

"I'm Rose Venkman." She stuck her hand out, trying to be polite. Delicour took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"Oh, are you Dr. Venkman's wife...?"

Rose tried not to look disgusted, but failed and said, "No, he's my brother."

"Oh, so are you single?"

"Okay!" Ray intervened. "You've got a ghost that you need taken care of, don't you?"

Rose wondered if Ray was jealous that this creep was hitting on her, but then told herself that she was being silly. Why would he be jealous?

"Yes. Thank you for coming. I hope we can clear this up quickly and quietly."

Peter looked at Delicour and said, "Let's not rush things. We don't even know what you have yet."

Delicour led the way to a smaller room where their frightened witness, Alice, was laying on a table. Alice immediately started telling them about her experience.

"I don't remember seeing legs, but it definitely had arms, because it reached out for me!" she said, clearly distraught.

Rose would have felt sorry for the poor woman, if she hadn't been excited that she might actually see a ghost. Clearly, Ray, who was filming the interview, felt the same way because he said, "Arms? I can't wait to get a look at this thing!"

"I know, right?" Rose whispered to him. Ray nodded and smiled that adorable boyish smile at her.

"Alice," Peter said, "I'm going to ask you a couple standard questions, okay?"

Alice nodded and Peter continued, "Have you or any member of your family ever been diagnosed schizophrenic, mentally incompetent?"

"My uncle thought he was Saint Jerome," Alice said. Peter, Ray, and Rose all looked at each other and Peter said, "I'd call that a big yes. Have you been habitually using drugs, stimulants, alcohol?"

"No!" Alice exclaimed.

"No, no. Just asking," Peter replied. "Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?"

Rose personally thought that Alice was postmenopausal, but maybe she looked older than she was. Besides, Rose had never heard of anyone hallucinating a ghost while on their period before.

"What does that got to do with it?" Delicour asked, slightly disgusted that Peter mentioned the woman's period. Rose rolled her eyes and muttered very quietly under her breath, "Wuss. It's not like every woman on the planet doesn't have it every month."

Ray looked sideways at her and nodded in agreement. Peter, on the other hand, simply said, "Back off, man. I'm a scientist."

Rose wondered if Peter was a little upset that Delicour hit on her. _I mean, he is my older brother. Isn't he supposed to be protective of me when it comes to guys?_

Just then, Egon, who had been tracking the ghost, rushed in and said, "Ray! It's moving. C'mon." Ray grabbed his equipment and followed Egon. Rose and Peter followed after the other two. Delicour followed them until Peter turned around and said, "Look, Roger. Can I call you Roger? Good. Roger, we don't know how dangerous this ghost is, so for your own safety, stay here and leave this to the professionals, okay?"

Delicour didn't have time to answer Peter before he and Rose took off again.

"I think you've got an admirer, Rosie," Peter said, teasingly.

"Shut up, Pete. I'm not remotely interested in him," Rose told him.

"Yeah? Well, Ray didn't look too thrilled that he was hitting on you."

"I said, shut up, Peter."

"Ooh, touchy, aren't we?"

Rose glared at him and he said, "Alright, alright. Relax. I'm just sayin'."

Rose walked faster and caught up with Ray and Egon, who were tracking the ghost, very concentrated. The tracker led them to the basement. Peter followed slowly, as though he wasn't interested. The four of them walked through shelves and shelves of books until they came upon a stack of books that went from the floor to the ceiling.

"Look!" Ray said, pointing at the stack.

Ray and Rose took to one side and Egon went to the other. Peter just stayed behind. Ray was filming all of this excitedly and Egon ran his PKE meter along the stack of books.

"This is hot, Ray," Egon said.

"Symmetrical book stacking. Just like the Philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947!" Ray concluded, still filming.

"I read about that in one of my parapsychology classes!" Rose blurted out. "It was so weird."

The three men looked at her and she said, "What? I went to college, y'know!"

"Yeah, but we didn't know you took a class on parapsychology," Peter told her.

"That was my major, Pete. I minored in Occult Studies."

"Cool," Ray commented. Rose smiled at him, and he blushed lightly again. Rose tried not to get her hopes up but maybe, just _maybe_ Ray was interested in her, like she was in him.

Peter turned his attention back to Ray's previous comment about the book stacking. "You're right, Ray. No human being would stack books like this."

"Leave him alone, Peter! At least he's making connections to other paranormal occurrences. All you're doing is making snide jokes."

Ray blushed at Rose's defense of him which, luckily no one noticed. Peter frowned a little in annoyance. He didn't seem to like that his little sister kept defending Ray against him.

Ray decided to switch the attention from Rose to something he noticed. "Listen," he said. "You smell something?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at Ray's choice of words but she understood what he meant. She smelled something nasty. Egon looked at his PKE meter and started walking towards the next section. Ray and Rose followed him, and again, Peter lagged behind, completely uninterested.

They came upon an area that looked like a hurricane went through it. "Talk about telekinetic activity! Look at this mess!" Ray exclaimed, still as excited as ever.

Rose noticed something that Egon was looking at. "Ray, look at this!" Rose told him.

He came over and looked at the clear goo that was dripping off four or five drawers that were pulled out. "Ectoplasmic residue!"

"Venkman, get a sample of this!" Egon said, handing Rose a Petri dish.

"Yeah, Venkman, get a sample of this!" Rose handed the dish to Peter, who grimaced. Egon smirked at Rose who simply smiled innocently.

"It's the real thing!" Ray breathed, filming every second of it.

"Somebody blows their nose and you wanna keep it?" Peter asked Egon.

"Oho, do we have a skeptic in our midst, Ray?" Rose asked him, jokingly.

"I think so, Rose!" Ray joked right back. Peter made a face at both of them.

"I'd like to analyze it," Egon explained.

"There's more over here," Ray said. Peter started scraping residue into the dish.

"I've got stronger readings over here, this way," Egon told them. Meanwhile, Peter had managed to get the residue all over his hands and started wiping it on the books.

Ray filmed Peter trying to get the residue off him and said, "Come on!"

They turned a corner and Egon kept waving his PKE meter around. Peter came up behind him and said, "Egon, your mucus."

Rose snorted softly in amusement at her brother and Egon took the dish from Peter. All of a sudden, a bookcase fell over behind them, causing them to jump back. Rose stumbled a little, right into Ray. He put his hand on her waist to stop her from falling over.

"Oops, sorry, Ray. Thanks for not letting me fall," Rose said. Ray blushed and said, "No problem."

As the dust that the bookcase rose settled, Peter turned to Ray and asked, "This happen to you before?"

Ray closed his eyes and shook his head. Rose looked between the two as her brother said, "Oh. First time?"

Ray nodded this time. The three of them started following Egon again as his meter started glowing and making noises, again. They turned a couple more corners and stopped when Egon put his hand up. His meter was going bonkers. They edged forward slowly and Egon turned to his right. He stopped, looked up and said, "It's here."

"A full torso apparition," Ray whispered in her ear. His voice at her ear sent shivers up and down her spine and she struggled to let it remain unseen. She turned to Ray and whispered, "I know, and it's real."

Right there in front of them was, indeed, a full torso apparition. Rose subconsciously grabbed Ray's hand and squeezed it tightly; she was a little frightened. To read about these kinds of apparitions was one thing, but to have it right in front of you was another story entirely.


	3. Chapter 3

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS, OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS. **

**Chapter 3**

Ray was trying his very hardest not to hyperventilate. Not only was there a REAL full torso apparition right in front of him, but Rose was standing very close to him AND was holding his hand. This was almost too much for his brain to handle.

Rose was so close that he could smell her shampoo, which happened to smell like fresh apples. His mind was going into overload.

_Pull it together, Ray! You need to pull it together and relax. She's only holding your hand most likely because she's scared of the ghost. Not because she's interested in you._

As depressing as that thought was, Ray had to accept it. But then another part of his mind told him, _But she could have grabbed Peter's hand, he's her brother! But she didn't. She's holding __**your**__ hand, Ray. That has to mean __**something**__ right?_

Ray wanted to believe that so badly, but...why would she, as childish as it sounds, like him like that? He was four years her senior and a complete nerd who never had any luck whatsoever when it came to women. And Rose...she was the girl of his dreams. She was beautiful, smart, funny, and she was as fascinated and dedicated to the paranormal as he was. He could easily give his heart to her and be certain that she wouldn't hurt him.

But the only problem was, that she would never, could never, feel that way about him. Of that he was certain.

Luckily, no one noticed his inner plight and he was shaken from his thoughts when Peter said, "So what do we do?"

Egon looked at his PKE meter for a second and then he and Ray looked at each other. At that point, Peter noticed that Rose and Ray were holding hands. He raised an eyebrow at Rose, hoping to get her attention, but she was completely fixated on the ghost. Or so it seemed.

While she was fascinated, terrified and excited beyond belief that a real ghost was right in front of her, Rose was more focused on trying to get her heartbeat back down to a normal pace. She realized seconds after she did it, that she had grabbed Ray's hand and stepped closer to him.

Being this close to him, knowing that nothing ever remotely romantic could happen between them, was harder than anyone could possibly imagine. When she looked at Ray, she could see her entire life panning out before her, and he was by her side every step of the way. But then she remembered who she was and who he was, and she remembered that Peter would never EVER be okay with this.

_Screw Peter!_ her mind screamed at her. _It isn't up to him who you date, or you fall in love with! If he doesn't like it, then tough._

But Peter meant so much to her and she wanted him to be okay with her and Ray, if anything ever did happen between them. Then again, whatever part of her mind that screamed at her had a point. It truly wasn't up to Peter who she dated. Her love life was none of his concern, and if she wanted to be with Ray, then Damnit, the only thing that would stop her being with him was if he didn't feel the same way!

Through all her thinking, she didn't realize that Peter had asked the three of them a question. When he didn't get an answer, he said, "Could you come over here and talk to me for a second please?"

She, Ray, and Egon made no move toward Peter so he reached out and grabbed Ray's ear and pulled him, and Rose along with him, back, saying, "Could you just come over here for a second please? Right over here."

"Come here, Francine. Come here. What do we do?" Peter asked, rather annoyed.

"I don't know," Ray told him. Peter glanced down at Rose and Ray's joined hands and Ray immediately let go of her once he saw where Peter's line of sight had rested. Peter had said nothing about it, but Ray blushed regardless and then turned to Egon and said, "What do you think?"

Egon grabbed his calculator and started punching numbers in, but Peter slapped it away and said, "Stop that!"

"What is your problem, Peter?" Rose asked, angry. There was no need to be like that when all Egon was trying to do was figure out what to do.

"My problem? My problem, Rose, is that there is an actual ghost around that corner and WE have no idea what to do about it! We're supposed to be paranormal experts and here we are, hiding behind a wall from a ghost that is reading a book!"

Rose and Peter glared fiercely at one another until Ray said, "We've got to make contact. One of us should actually try to speak to it."

"Good idea," Egon and Rose said in unison. The three of them looked at Peter, who groaned.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do something about the ghost! Well this is you doing something!" Rose whispered. Peter glared at his sister and walked out from behind the wall. Ray, Rose, and Egon shuffled out behind him after Ray handed Rose the video camera.

Ray started taking pictures left and right and Rose stood next to him, filming Peter trying to speak to the ghost. Egon hung back with his PKE meter and just watched the encounter.

"Hello. I'm Peter. Where are you from...originally?" Peter asked the ghost. The ghost looked up from her book and turned to Peter.

"Shhh," the ghost said. Peter blinked and turned back to the other three. He pushed them back behind the wall saying, "All right. Okay, the usual stuff isn't working."

"Okay," Ray spoke up. Rose looked at him and he said, "I have a plan. I know exactly what to do."

In reality, Ray had no idea what to do. He'd never encountered something like this before. But they had to do **something**. As terrified as he was inside, he moved forward and said, "Now, stay close. Stay close."

Ray felt Rose press up against his back and her hand on his arm. She seemed to be shaking ever so slightly. She was really scared. But then again, so was he. _Be brave, Ray. Be brave._

"I know," Ray said, although he wasn't sure who he was talking to; Rose or himself. "Do exactly as I say. Ready...ready...GET HER!"

_Really Ray, THAT'S the best you could do? _he thought as they all rushed forward in an attempt to grab the ghost. The spirit instantly transformed from a harmless old lady into a horrible, growling monster. The four of them screamed and ran for it. Ray was aware that Rose grabbed his hand again and was pulling him along as she ran.

They booked it out the building, and Delicour came running after them.

"Did you see it? What was it?"

"We'll get back to you!" Peter yelled out as they ran off. As Rose and Ray ran as fast as their legs would carry them, she heard Delicour screech, "WHAT?"

That was when Rose started laughing. She couldn't stop and when they finally started slowing down, Ray looked at her and said, "What's so funny?"

Rose managed to catch her breath and said, "Oh, nothing. It's just that...I haven't felt that ALIVE in a long time! My heart is racing, Ray, feel it!"

Before he could object, Rose took his hand that she was holding and placed it over her heart. As Ray felt her heartbeat, they looked into each other's eyes and time sort of slowed down. Everything else melted away and they were the only two left in the world, maybe the universe.

Rose's eyes flickered from Ray's eyes to his lips and he thought, _This is it. This is your chance, Ray! Kiss her! Kiss her now!_

Ray leaned in and their lips were about less than an inch apart when they both heard Peter's voice and footsteps approaching. The shining moment burst like a soap bubble and they came back to themselves.

Shockingly, Ray didn't blush as they moved away from each other and he took his hand back, but that might have been because he wasn't embarrassed. He was dumbstruck beyond human comprehension that they had almost kissed, but he wasn't embarrassed.

Maybe there was a chance for them to be together after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS**

**Chapter 4**

Peter had caught up with Ray and Rose and was laughing. Luckily, he was oblivious to the moment that Ray and Rose had just had.

_If only he hadn't caught up when he did,_ Rose thought sadly. _Who knows what could have happened?_

"Hee, hee, hee. Get her! That was your whole plan. Get her. It was scientific," Peter teased Ray. Rose tried not to get annoyed with her brother, but she couldn't help it. She didn't say anything this time though, because she knew if she spoke, Peter would look at her, and then Ray would look at her, and she wouldn't be able to stop herself from jumping on Ray and kissing him senseless.

And that couldn't happen. Well, at least not in front of Peter...

"I just got overexcited. But wasn't it incredible Pete? I mean, we actually touched the etheric plane! Do you know what this could mean to the University?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be bigger than the microchip. Ray, I'm very excited," Peter said. Rose couldn't tell whether or not he was actually being sincere but she decided not to question him on it. Egon, who had been calculating something, walked up and said, "Well, I wouldn't say the experience was totally wasted. According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely."

Ray and Rose looked at Egon's readings and Peter seemed so shocked that he stopped walking altogether.

"Well, this is great! If this ionization rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we could really bust some heads!"

Rose raised her eyebrow at Ray and he added on, "In a spiritual sense of course." Rose nodded and winked at Ray. He smiled shyly and looked away. Peter caught up with the other three and said to Egon, "Spengs, you serious about this catching a ghost?"

Egon looked at Peter and said, "I'm always serious."

Rose giggled softly at Egon's expression and Peter said, "Egon, I'm gonna take back some of the things I said about you."

He took a candy bar out of his coat pocket and held it out to Egon, whose serious expression turned into one of childlike wonder. "You...you've earned it," Peter told him.

_Ah, so Egon's weakness is candy. I'll have to file that away for future reference_, Rose thought. Ray looked at Egon and the candy bar, and the most adorable smile spread across his face, making Rose's heart go wild. She breathed slowly, trying to calm herself down.

They walked back to the lab, talking about all the things that these new readings could mean. As they finally got back into the lab, Ray was telling Rose, "The possibilities are, are endless!"

But then Rose noticed people in the lab and Ray said, "Hey, Dean Yeager!"

A man turned around and smiled at the guys...and Rose. But this time, Rose didn't bother to act like she was flattered. The other guys in the lab were moving stuff out.

"I trust you're moving us to better quarters on campus?" Peter said. Rose wasn't sure that was the case, but she hoped she was wrong.

"No, you're being moved off campus. The board of regents has decided to terminate your grant. You are to evacuate these premises immediately," Dean Yeager told them, looking way too happy about it.

Egon, as usual, was expressionless, Ray looked confused, Rose was getting rather angry, but Peter just said, "This is preposterous. I demand an explanation."

"Fine," Yeager said. "The university will no longer continue any funding of any kind for your group's activities."

"But the kids love us!" Peter protested. Yeager's expression turned sour and he said, "_Dr. _Venkman," like he thoroughly detested having to use Peter's professional title.

"We believe that the purpose of science is to serve mankind. You, however, seem to regard science as some kind of dodge or hustle. Your theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, your methods are sloppy, and your conclusions are highly questionable. You, Dr. Venkman, are a poor scientist."

Peter nodded and said, "I see," just as another guy came in and took the camera and video camera.

"And you have no place in this department, or in this university."

And with that, they were kicked out. However, Dean Yeager stopped Rose before she left and said, "Perhaps, you and I could go to dinner sometime?"

Rose was furious but that question was the straw that broke the camel's back for her. "All right, listen up, you stuck up dick; after what you just said to my brother, I would not go anywhere with you, even if there was a zombie apocalypse and you were my only means of survival! Are we clear?"

Yeager drew himself up to his full height and tried not to look offended as he nodded.

"And, furthermore, if you ever speak to me again, I will shove my foot so far up your ass, you will be tasting my shoes for years! Get it?"

Rose turned her back on Yeager and stormed off. When she got outside, she walked right up to where Ray was pacing worriedly and Peter was relaxing with a bottle of alcohol.

"This is a major disgrace. Forget MIT or Stanford. They wouldn't touch us with a ten-meter cattle prod," Ray said. Peter rolled his eyes and Rose patted Ray's shoulder comfortingly. She hopped up on the wall and sat near her brother.

"You're always so concerned with your reputation. Einstein did his best stuff while he was working as a patent clerk," Peter told Ray.

"Do you know how much a patent clerk makes?" Ray asked.

"No!"

"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money, facilities. We didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college. You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results," Ray finished with a dejected look on his face.

Rose hopped down and hugged Ray. He just looked so sad. Ray smiled, actually didn't blush, and hugged her back.

Peter sat up and hopped down, placing the bottle of alcohol on the stone railing. "For whatever reasons, Ray, call it fate."

Peter grabbed his bottle of alcohol and walked Ray over to the stairs. Rose followed after them, listening to what Peter would say to cheer Ray up.

"Call it luck. Call it karma. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that we were destined to get thrown out of this dump."

"For what purpose?"

"To go into business for ourselves," Peter replied, offering Ray a drink. Ray accepted and took a swig before handing it to Rose, who also took a sip.

Then Ray said, "This ecto-containment system Spengler and I have in mind is going to need a load of bread to capitalize. Where are we going to get the money?"

Peter shook his head and took another drink from the bottle. "I don't know. I _don't_ know."

They walked down the stairs and Peter said, "Ray, what about your parents' house?"

"What about it?"

"They left it to you! You could take out another mortgage on it!"

"I don't know, Pete."

"Come on, Ray. Come on, come on, come on," Peter begged. Ray rolled his eyes and said, "I guess we could do that."

"YES!" Peter cheered.

Rose started laughing at her brother's behavior and Peter grinned at her. "There we go. That's what I wanna see! What was up with you, anyway?"

"What do you mean, Pete?"

"You looked seriously pissed off when you came out of the University."

"Oh...that jerk Yeager had the nerve to ask me out!"

"WHAT?" Peter yelped.

"Don't worry, Pete, I turned him down."

"Well, good. But do you want me to go beat him for you?"

"No, Peter."

"I'll help you Pete," Ray said, looking angry.

"No...hey, no, no, no! The last thing we need is for you two to get arrested for assault and battery. Besides I put him in his place myself."

"Oh, all right. That's my little sister! Wish I coulda seen his face. Anyway, see you tomorrow, guys. Oh, Rose, are you gonna stay with me, or...?" Peter said.

"Thanks, Pete, but I have a room at The Roger Smith Hotel. I'll be looking for an apartment soon."

"All right. Love ya, sis!" Peter walked off and left Rose and Ray alone.

Ray smiled nervously and said, "Well, I should get home. Get some rest. I have a feeling that the next few days are going to be very...interesting."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Right, well. Night. See you tomorrow, Rose." Ray turned around and starting walking away. Rose nodded and said, "Yeah, see you."

Then Rose had an idea. She called after Ray, "Hey, Ray wait a minute!"

She ran up to him and when he turned around, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly. It wasn't really a peck but it wasn't a deep kiss either. It was just...perfect, if you asked her.

Ray froze out of shock but then returned the kiss. Rose pulled away after a few more seconds and said, "Night, Ray."

She kissed him one more time, but this time it really was a peck, and then walked off. Ray stood there in shock, as though he couldn't quite believe what had just happened. He smiled and raised a hand to his lips.

"Night Rose."

He walked off, feeling light as a feather.


	5. Chapter 5

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS.**

**Chapter 5**

Rose woke up the next day all smiles. She was very glad that she had taken a chance yesterday and kissed Ray. And furthermore, he kissed her back. Which either meant that he felt the same way, or he was prone to returning kisses that were randomly bestowed upon him, and Rose was quite sure that wasn't the case.

She got up, took a shower, and got dressed. She was just sitting around watching TV, trying to decide where she should look for the guys. Peter and Ray mentioned taking out another mortgage on Ray's house, and to do that, they would need to go to a bank.

But which one? There were hundreds of banks, maybe more, in New York City. And then, as luck would have it, her hotel room phone rang.

She picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, sis! Uh, we're gonna go to the bank to deal with Ray's house. Do you want us to swing by your hotel before so you can go with us?"

"Yeah, absolutely! I'll wait in the lobby for you. But how did you know what hotel I was staying at?"

"You told me where you were staying last night Rose. Is your memory that crappy that you can't remember what happened last night?"

"My memory is perfectly fine, thank you very much. I just forgot. Or is that illegal?" Rose didn't mean to snap, really she didn't. But Peter didn't understand. Ray's kiss made her rather weak in the knees. She considered herself lucky that she remembered what hotel she was staying at after that.

_But that's just it. Peter doesn't understand, BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW! _Rose's mind yelled at her.

"No, it's not illegal...yet. Alright, we'll be by in like 5 minutes or so, okay?"

"Yeah. See ya then, Peter."

"Bye," Peter said, and the line went dead. Rose hung up the phone and made sure she had everything she needed. She found herself checking her appearance in the mirror far often than what would be considered normal and immediately chastised herself for it.

She needed to relax; she looked fine. She looked perfectly fine. It's not like she was going to see the President at The White House, or anything.

_No, you just want to look good for the man you're in love with, Rose_, said a voice in her head. She wasn't schizophrenic or anything; it was mainly just her subconscious talking to her. People had conversations with their subconscious all the time, right? It's not like she talked to herself and answered herself out loud. That was just her process of thought.

What hit her like a ton of bricks was the realization that she was, in fact, in love with Ray. She stepped into the elevator, barely noticing there was another person in the elevator.

_I am in love with Ray Stantz. I'm in love with him. Okay, don't panic. Don't panic. Don't-_

"Hi there."

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone spoke to her. Rose turned her head and saw that the person that the voice belonged to was a young man about her age. He had a flirtatious smile on his face, and it was directed right at Rose. She was sick of random guys just flirting with her.

"Hello," Rose said stiffly. _Be polite_, she had to remind herself.

"I'm Jake," the young man said, still smiling. It was actually getting a bit creepy.

"Rose," she replied.

"So, uh, you from outta town?" Jake asked her.

"I'm from Brooklyn."

"Oh. You don't have much of Brooklyn accent."

"I know. I spent some time in Boston. Picked up some of the accent. It sorta blended with my natural accent."

"You spent some time in Boston? I'm from Boston!"

"Really," Rose said, sounding more and more like Peter with every passing second.

"Maybe you and I should grab drinks sometime, talk about Boston," Jake said, with a wink.

"I have a boyfriend," Rose lied. She was getting more agitated by this guy with every word he said.

"Oh?" He sounded like he didn't believe her. _Why the little -! How does he know I'm not telling the truth?_

"Yep."

"I see. What's his name?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"I'm just curious as to why you're rejecting me. I don't wanna sound stuck up, but not a lot of girls reject me."

"Well, first time for everything, _Jake_."

"So what's his name?"

The elevator door opened and Rose immediately spotted Ray. Luckily Peter and Egon weren't with him. Maybe they were waiting outside...well, that would make what she was about to do far easier.

"Ray!" Rose called out. He turned around and Rose started walking towards him, fully aware that Jake was tailing her like a puppy. Apparently, he wanted solid proof that she was taken.

Rose reached Ray and hugged him. When she did, she whispered in his ear, "Pretend to be my boyfriend. Please!"

She released Ray and turned around, taking Ray's hand and intertwining their fingers. "Oh, Jake. This is my boyfriend, Ray." Ray was a bit taller than Jake, who looked surprised that Rose's "boyfriend" actually existed.

Jake shook Ray's hand stiffly and said, "Well, you are a very lucky man, Ray."

"I know. Uh, come on, sweetheart, we have to get going," Ray tried very hard to look protective of Rose and it seemed to work because Jake backed off quickly.

"Bye!" Rose said, over her shoulder as they walked away. Jake narrowed his eyes at the couple but then shrugged. _He really is a lucky guy._

When Ray and Rose walked outside, they let go of each other hands, although neither of them wanted to. It just felt right.

"So, what was that all about?"

"He kept trying to flirt with me."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Yes and no. There's only one guy that I want to flirt with me," Rose said, looking up at Ray out of the corner of her eye. He wasn't a whole lot taller than her, but it was enough for her to need to look up in order to see into his eyes.

"Oh. I see."

Rose was hoping that Ray would pick up on the obvious hint, but he didn't.

"But seriously, Ray, that's three guys in two days. Do I have a sign that's invisible to me that says, "Flirt with me, I'm desperate" or something?"

Ray chuckled and pretended to look for said sign and ended up being a little distracted by her butt. Once he recovered, he said, "Nope, not that I can see. You know, this may not have occurred to you, Rose, but you are an extremely beautiful young woman. So, logically, men are inclined to flirt with you. It's only natural."

"Natural, my ass. There is nothing _natural_ about a new guy trying to get into my pants every time I turn around, Ray! I'm sorry, but there isn't."

Ray just shrugged, although he looked a little happier that Rose hadn't been interested in Jake at all. Just then Peter and Egon walked up to them. Apparently Peter had heard a part of their conversation because he said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just here something about a guy trying to get into your pants?"

Egon's expression darkened slightly for a second and it pleased Rose that he too was protective of her, even if he wouldn't express it much.

"It's nothing, Peter," Rose said, smirking to herself, knowing that being left out of the loop would drive him crazy.

"No, no. If some guy is trying to seduce my baby sister, I have a right to know about it."

"Oh, fine, Ray and I have fallen madly in love and we're planning to seduce each other and elope during the darkest hours of the night," Rose said dramatically, with the air of admitting a big secret. She was kidding of course; she'd never elope. That's just silly. She'd want Peter to walk her down the aisle!

But seducing Ray...well that was another story. Apparently, Peter didn't understand that she was joking because he went rather red in the face and said, "What? RAY!"

Ray looked terrified and Rose cracked up. "I'm only joking, Peter! Relax."

"That isn't funny, Rose," Peter snapped. He began to pout and Rose just about lost it. She put an arm around her brother's waist and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked along their merry way.

"Oh, Peter, relax. You know I'd never elope!"

Peter's pout lessened slightly and Rose fell behind to walk with Egon. Ray, for his part, was having a difficult time getting an inappropriate image of Rose out of his head. He was doing fine until she mentioned them seducing each other.

Keeping his feelings hidden was going to be a lot harder than he thought, especially after that kiss yesterday. Several times he had to remind himself that he hadn't been dreaming, that it had actually happened.

However, he managed to compose himself by the time they got to bank. They got in there and took out a third mortgage on the house. Rose didn't understand much about mortgaging, but she understood that it could have gone a lot better.

By the time they got out of the bank, Peter was having trouble containing himself.

"You're never gonna regret this Ray!" he exclaimed.

Ray, who was holding the paper the banker gave him, said, "My parents left me that house. I was _born_ there!"

"You're not gonna lose the house. Everybody has three mortgages nowadays."

Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes as Ray said, "But at nineteen percent? You didn't even bargain with the guy!"

"He has a point, Peter," Rose told her brother, but he simply waved her off. She hated when he got like this: so convinced he was right, he refused to listen to anyone else.

Egon, who had been walking behind with his calculator, came up and said, "Ray, for your information, the interest rate alone for the first five years comes to $95,000."

Rose groaned in sympathy as Ray became even more dismayed. Peter, however, didn't seem to care.

"Will you guys relax?" he said. "We are on the threshold of establishing the indispensable defense science of the next decade. Professional paranormal investigations and eliminations. The franchise rights alone will make us richer beyond our wildest dreams."

Ray just shook his head.

"Okay, first thing we need to do is get place to operate out of," Rose said. Peter looked at her, seemingly about to say that she wouldn't be a part of this, but Rose beat him to the punch.

"Peter Charles Venkman, don't you even DARE try and keep me out of this. There is no way that I am going to sit around twiddling my thumbs while you guys are out catching ghosts!"

"But, Rose, I-"

"No! I am a grown woman, Peter! I don't need my big brother protecting me all the time, okay? I am doing this with you guys, whether you like it or not!"

"ROSE!" Peter shouted, getting her attention. "I was just trying to say that that was a good idea. That's it. I wouldn't dream of keeping you out of this."

"Oh," Rose said, a pink tinge appearing on her face. Ray smiled, clearly amused that Rose was so quick to tell Peter off.

"Anyway," Peter said, "there's an old abandoned firehouse on North Moore Street that would be good for our Headquarters."

Everything happened very quickly, and before Rose even knew it, they were at the firehouse, talking to a real estate agent. Ray went to go explore the upper levels of the firehouse, but Rose decided to stick with Peter and Egon and the real estate agent. She wanted to hear what the lady had to say about the firehouse, which looked like it was about to cave in at any moment.

"There's office space, sleeping quarters and showers on the next floor and a full kitchen on the top left," the agent told Peter.

He turned around to face her and said, "It just seems a little pricey for a unique fixer-upper opportunity, that's all. What do you think, Egon?"

Egon looked at Peter and said, "I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."

"Aw, come on, Egon. We could fix it up in no time," Rose told him. Egon just gave her a look that clearly said, 'No.'

"HEY!" Ray called from above them. Rose looked up and saw Ray holding onto a railing and looking at a fireman pole. "Does this pole still work?"

Ray jumped on it and quickly slid down, landing perfectly next to Rose.

"Wow! This place is GREAT! When can we move in? You gotta try this pole!" Ray said, excitedly. Rose couldn't help but laugh at his child-like enthusiasm. He started moving backwards and said, "I'm gonna get my stuff!"

He ran up the stairs to the door but turned around and said to them, "Hey, we should stay here tonight! Sleep here! You know, to try it out!"

Ray ran up the rest of the stairs and Peter looked at Egon. The taller man shook his head slowly and Peter turned to the real estate agent and said, "I think we'll take it."

And just like that, they had their HQ. Now all they needed to do was think up a name.


	6. Chapter 6

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. i AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS. HOWEVER, I SHOULD MENTION THAT I OWN ROSE. BUT THAT'S IT.**

**Chapter 6**

Over the next few days, while Rose and the guys were cleaning up the place, they had all took it upon themselves to try to think of a name for their business. They had all come up with names but none of them were deemed appropriate for their business.

Egon had dismissed the more frivolous names, like Peter's suggestion, "The Spook Crew". Other than that, they had been working on trying to find a secretary.

And then, she arrived. She had short red hair and large green glasses. Her voice was high-pitched and had a strong Brooklyn accent.

Egon found her voice kind of annoying, stating that anyone from Brooklyn had an annoying accent, but Peter and Rose were quick to remind him that they were from Brooklyn, too.

He didn't apologize to Peter, but once the older Venkman was out of earshot, he turned to Rose and said, "I apologize about the Brooklyn comment. It's not really true, at least not for you, anyway."

Rose smiled and winked at Egon. Luckily, unlike Ray, he didn't blush, but he did smile kind of awkwardly. But, they finally had a secretary. She was nice and she was quite talented with the keyboard of a computer. Her name was Janine Melnitz.

Rose, needless to say, was glad that she wasn't the only girl in this operation anymore. She loved her guys, but it was nice to have some girl talk sometimes. Especially considering she wasn't the only one who was romantically interested in one of the guys.

By the end of her interview, which she did fantastically, by the way, she was making doe-eyes and smiling flirtatiously at Egon, who really didn't know what to do. Rose found this highly amusing, but not because she was interested in Egon; Egon was tall, handsome, smart, and to a certain extent, mysterious because of his lack of emotional expression. No, the reason that Rose was so amused was because Egon was actually at a loss about what to do with Janine's interest in him.

About a day before Janine came in for an interview, Ray and Rose had been working on the pipes in the upstairs bathroom. They were going to, eventually, need to take showers, so the pipes needed to be fixed.

Well, technically, Ray was working on the pipes and Rose was just handing him the tools he asked for. Rose was brilliant, sure, but when it came to pipes or cars...forget it. She knew nothing. So, she was quite content to sit back and to whatever Ray told her to.

"Okay, Rose, go check the shower. See if it's working yet," Ray told her. She shrugged and hopped off the sink counter she was sitting on. She walked over to the shower area, pulled back one of the curtains and -

"AHH!" Rose shrieked. Ray smacked his head on the top of the sink cabinet, which he was under, trying to fix the pipes for that, and came out very quickly. "Rose are you alright?"

She stared at him and pointed to the shower. Ray walked over, wondering what it could possibly be, when he saw the problem. It was a rather big spider.

"It's just a spider, Rose. He won't hurt you."

"Ray, I don't have a problem with small spiders. Normally. But that, Raymond, THAT is the **ONE OF THE BIGGEST EFFING SPIDERS I HAVE EVER SEEN!**"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Ray told her. So Rose was afraid of big spiders, huh? The part of Ray's mind that still operated like a ten year old got an idea.

"I will calm down when it is DEAD!" Rose told him. Ray rolled his eyes and bent over and picked up the spider by one of its legs. Rose shuddered and screamed blood murder when Ray popped back up and put the spider on her head. It was a very mean thing to do, Ray's rational mind scolded him, but he ignored it.

But, it had been a moment too good to pass up. Rose shook the spider off her head and ran screaming from the room. Ray followed, laughing his head off, after he let the spider go free out the window. By the time Ray caught up with Rose, she was sitting on the couch, absolutely fuming.

Ray sat down next to her, still laughing, and Rose almost immediately scurried away from him. This made Ray stop laughing altogether. She was really mad. Furious, actually, with him. Ray started to feel kind of guilty. He leaned over to her and said, "Aw, come on, Rose, it was only a joke."

"A joke? A joke! Ray, that wasn't funny! I have arachnophobia, alright?"

"The spider wasn't gonna hurt you! He was just as scared as you were!" Ray was starting to get a little upset. It was only a harmless spider. Yes, it had been big, but it wasn't dangerous. "What's the problem? He didn't bite you, did he?"

"No, but that's not the point, Ray!"

"Well, what is the point?!" Ray was yelling now.

"Why are you yelling?!" Rose shouted at him.

"Because it was just a joke! You're acting like I've betrayed you!"

"What are you two yelling about?" Peter came in, with a look of confusion on his face. Ray and Rose never fought. Never. They always got along.

Rose swiftly got up from the couch and walked over to her older brother. She pointed at Ray while looking at Peter and said, "Your idiotic friend! That's what!"

Rose missed the hurt look that crossed Ray's face when she called him idiotic.

"What did he do?" Peter asked. Now he was really confused. Rose calling Ray an idiot? Did he just step into a parallel dimension?

"He put a really, really big spider on my head! You know how I feel about spiders, Peter." Rose stormed off, leaving a hurt and confused Ray behind.

Peter groaned and shook his head at Ray.

"What? What did I do?"

"Ray, there's something you should know about Rose."

"Yeah, she has arachnophobia, I know."

"No, not just that."

"Well, what then?"

"When she was about 9 or 10...Ray, she was bitten by a Black Widow spider."

"What?!" Ray yelped. _Oh, no wonder she's so mad at me!_

"Yeah. She came within an inch of death. It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. I thought I was going to lose my sister that day. She couldn't breathe, Ray. She was shaking and gasping for air. Luckily, she was administered an antidote that saved her life. It traumatized her. Ever since, she's been deathly afraid of big spiders."

"But the Black Widow isn't that big!" Ray protested.

Peter chuckled darkly and said, "This one was. This one was huge. Their abdomens are usually the size of pennies, but this one...this one was at least as big a quarter. Maybe bigger. I only saw it for a couple seconds before it scurried off."

Ray felt very much like bashing his head against the wall until he was knocked unconscious. Peter put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't beat yourself up. You didn't know. However, I am surprised that she didn't bust your lip open. Weird, huh, how she's terrified of spiders, but not of ghosts? I mean I know why she's terrified of spiders, but she isn't afraid of ghosts..."

Ray mulled that over in his mind. _Why didn't she bust my lip open? I hope she'll be okay around ghosts. Maybe she'll try to bust the ghosts' lips open. Not sure that's even possible, but...WAIT A MINUTE! That's it! Ghostbusters! That could be our name!_

"Peter, I've got it!"

"What?" Peter asked, a little unnerved by Ray's sudden outburst.

"The name of our business! What about 'Ghostbusters'?"

Peter looked impressed. "Good. I like it. I'll run it by Egon, see what he thinks. In the meantime, you go find Rose and apologize. Go on, get."

Ray grumbled a little but knew that he really had to apologize. He finally found Rose sitting on her bed, listening to her Walkman. She had her eyes closed and she looked completely at peace. It would take him a while to pinpoint when exactly it had happened, but this was when he realized that he was in love with Rose.

The realization didn't scare him as much as he thought it would. It would be even more difficult to keep his feelings hidden now...but maybe he didn't need to hide them, at least from Rose. But now wasn't the time to tell her how he felt. When the time was right, he'd know. He carefully walked over to Rose and touched her shoulder.

She jumped and her eyes flew open. Her blue eyes darkened when she saw him and she sat up, taking off her headphones.

"What do you want, Ray?"

Ray tried not to wince at her harsh tone. "Peter told me about the Black Widow incident when you were younger."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Rose said.

Ray nodded and sat down next to Rose. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't know. I had no idea that...but that's no excuse. I'm so sorry, Rose."

Ray looked down, so ashamed with himself, so he didn't see Rose's expression soften. _He truly is sorry. Oh, I can't stay mad at him. He might have to watch his step around me for a couple days, but I can't stay mad at him._

"Ray," Rose said softly. He looked up hopefully. "Listen, I know you didn't know about what happened. It's just really hard getting over that. I honestly thought that I was going to die that day. Being that close to death, that young...it's scary. It's terrifying. It took me a long time to get to the point where I could actually talk about it."

"I can't even imagine. All I know is that I am very glad you didn't die. Because then...I would never have met you. That's a scary thought to me, never having known you."

Rose smiled and said, "That's very sweet, Ray. I forgive you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but if you ever do that again, I will beat you to a bloody pulp. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

Rose smiled brightly at Ray and hugged him tightly. He returned the embrace happily and said, "So, we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

They just sat in comfortable silence for a while, still holding each other. Then Ray remembered that he had come up with a name for their business.

"Oh, hey, Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we may have a name..."

"Really? What is it?"

"Ghostbusters. What do you think? I came up with it," Ray said proudly.

"Ghostbusters...I love it! It's perfect."

Ray's heart swelled with pride and happiness when Rose said that. A few more moments of silence followed until Rose said, "You know, I think that we need to get the word out there. Maybe we should do a commercial..."

* * *

**Okay, so I know nothing much happened in this chapter. It was more a filler, because in the movie, the scenes just jump from the "Getting the Firehouse" scene to the scene with Dana and her eggs. And in that scene, the Ghostbusters commercial is on TV. So, I'm just fleshing out the timeline. Maybe not very well, but there you are.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 7**

Rose was watching the boys in extreme amusement. They were filming their commercial today, and watching the three of them trying to get it right was really funny. She knew exactly what she had to say, exactly when she had to say it, so she was all ready for when they actually starting rolling the camera.

"Uh, Rose, I think we're ready," Peter called over to her. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Are you, now? Are you sure?"

Peter narrowed his eyes at her for a moment and turned back to Ray and Egon. For some reason Ray's eyes kept straying over her way and losing focus. Peter had to keep snapping his fingers in front of Ray's face to get him to pay attention again.

Ray was doing this now, for about the fifth or sixth time, when Peter snapped his fingers again. He looked at Ray and said, "What's with you, man?"

"Nothing," Ray said defensively. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. You're the very definition of 'not fine', Raymond. Now, talk. What. Is. With. You?" Peter told him, in a 'don't try to bullshit me' voice.

Surprisingly, Egon spoke up and said, "Peter, I believe that Ray has found himself enamored with a certain female. I believe he's experiencing the emotion of being in love."

"What?" Peter laughed. "Ray, you sly devil! You never said you had a girl!"

"That's because I don't," Ray muttered, annoyed that his friends could figure it out so easily.

"What?" Peter said. "I couldn't hear you, Ray, what?"

"I said, that's because I don't. I don't have a girl."

"Oh. So it's unrequited love, is it?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow at Ray. The younger Ghostbuster rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Egon spoke up again.

"I'm not entirely sure, Peter, that it is unrequited," he said.

"What do you mean? What do you know that I don't, huh?"

"I don't know what you mean, Peter," Ray said. _I can't let him know. Peter would kill me!_

"Look, Ray, I'm not stupid. The only girl that we all have been around the last couple of days is Rose, so unless you have the hots for my sister, there isn't anyone that I can think of. And I know you don't have the hots for my sister. So, what do you two know that I don't?"

"Peter, we aren't hiding anything from you. Just drop it, okay?" Ray said.

Peter was about to say more on the subject but he saw the pleading look on Ray's face and decided to drop it, for the sake of his friend. Whatever, or whoever, had Ray looking like that, clearly he didn't want to talk about it. Peter could be a jerk sometimes, but he understood what it was like to be in pain because of love. And Ray had clearly been bitten by the lovebug.

_Poor guy, _Peter thought. _I wonder who stole Ray's heart...I wonder if I know her. It's possible. Oh, I hope she isn't one of my ex-girlfriends._

He turned his head as Rose walked up to them and noticed that Ray's expression brightened considerably. _Well, at any rate, I'm glad Rose can cheer him up._

"Okay, boys, are you ready to do this commercial?"

"Yes, I am!" Peter said, smiling broadly.

"I guess," Ray said, shrugging his shoulders.

Egon simply said, "No," but got into his spot anyway.

They all got into a line with Peter on one end, Rose next to him, Ray next to her, and Egon on the other end. The cameraman who was filming the commercial asked if they were ready and they all nodded or said yes in one form or another.

"Okay, you're rolling...now!"

Ray stepped forward, "Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night?"

Egon stepped forward next, "Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?"

Then Peter, "Have you or any of your family ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?"

And then Rose stepped forward. "If the answer is yes, don't wait another minute. Pick up your phone and call the professionals."

The four of them then said, "Ghostbusters," at the same time. Ray was then left alone and he said, "Our courteous and efficient staff is on call twenty four hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs."

"We're ready to believe you!" All four of them said it together. And then the commercial ended. Ray let out a sigh of relief and said, "I'm glad that's over with."

"Yeah, me too. Well, at least people will start to hear about us now."

"Yep! Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for the customers to come to us!" Peter said excitedly.

"Don't get complacent, Peter," Egon told him. "Not everyone is going to believe us right away. When, and if, they show up, they'll probably be very hesitant to tell us about their paranormal experiences."

"Thanks, Egghead. Ruin all my fun, why don't ya?"

Rose lightly smacked the back of Peter's head and said, "Don't call him that."

"Why? You gonna stop me?" Peter asked. Rose raised her fist and said, "This time, Peter, it was a tiny smack. Do it again, and next time, it'll be a black eye."

Peter threw his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "All right, all right. Sheesh. Calm down, woman."

"Hey, no one messes with my guys. Not even you, Peter."

Ray smiled when she said that. _Her guy. I could get used to that. I'd be her guy and she'd be my girl. Maybe someday...maybe one day she'll be my girl._


	8. Chapter 8

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS AND I AM MAKING NO PROFIT OFF THIS. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 8**

After Rose and the guys saw the commercial air for the first time, Peter announced that they needed to put a sign up.

So the next day, Peter called a guy named Marty and had him paint the sign, with Peter "helping". Well, in all actuality, Peter just watched him paint the sign.

"Honestly, Peter, you could at least hold the bottom of the ladder to make sure he doesn't fall and break his neck!" Rose called out to Peter. Marty looked down at her in alarm and she shrugged and said, "But, hey, don't worry, the odds of that _actually_ happening is probably a million to one, Marty!"

Rose turned her attention back to her lazy brother, who raised his hands, palms turned toward the sky, and said, "Hey, sis, I am helping. It's called supervising!"

Rose made a face at him and walked over to the ladder and braced it so that Marty **wouldn't** fall and break his neck. Unfortunately, she was left alone with her brother during this event. Ray was out trying to find a suitable car for the Ghostbusters and Egon was far too busy working on their ghost catching equipment to come out and berate Peter with her.

She loved her brother dearly, but sometimes, he was just too much for one person to handle. As she made sure that the ladder wouldn't move unless she wanted it to, Peter called out, "You don't think it's too subtle, Marty? You don't think that people will drive down and not see the sign?"

Marty turned as far as he could without placing himself in danger of falling and shook his head at Peter. Rose then heard a curious noise, like an ambulance siren. She turned around and saw a dark blue hearse pulling up, with Ray driving it.

"You can't park that here!" Peter joked. Ray climbed out of the car and said, "Everybody can relax. I found the car!"

Peter looked it up and down as Ray said, "Needs some suspension work, and shocks, and brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear and-"

Rose's eyes had been getting wider with everything Ray said about the car, so she was happy that Peter interrupted him. "How much?" Peter asked.

"Only 4800." Peter and Rose's faces fell at exactly the same time. _He paid 4800 for __**that**__?_

However, she didn't want to hurt Ray's feelings, so she masked her disappointment. There wasn't any need, though, because Ray just kept saying what the car would need. "And maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring..."

Eventually, Ray gave up on listing everything and drove the car into the firehouse. Luckily, there was a space that acted as a garage, so the car fit perfectly.

"Hey, Rose, I'm gonna start working on the car. Do you maybe wanna help me?"

"Uh, sure, Ray. I know nothing about cars though. I don't know how much help I'm gonna be."

Ray smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll do fine. Just hand me the tools I ask for, okay?"

Rose nodded and shrugged. _Seems that's all I'm good for. Handing people tools._

Peter left the two of them and walked toward his "office", which was right behind Janine's desk. Janine was just sitting there, reading a magazine. Peter stopped next to her and said, "Janine! Any calls?"

"No," she replied. Rose craned her neck to look at Janine.

"Any messages?" Peter asked.

"No."

"Any customers?"

"No, Dr. Venkman."

Peter nodded and said, "Good job, innit? Type something will you? We're paying for this stuff..."

He walked past her desk and Janine stared at him as he did. "Don't stare at me! You've got the bug eyes..."

_That was really rude, Pete_. Rose thought. Peter stopped, turned around, and said, "Janine! Sorry about the bug eyes thing. I'll be in my office."

Rose rolled her eyes but then raised her eyebrow when Egon popped out from under the desk.

"Hey, Egon, what were you doing down there?" Rose called out, waggling her eyebrows. Ray looked around at Rose and then Janine and Egon and then snorted. Egon looked at her, blushed, and glared at her. "I was fixing Janine's computer."

"You're very handy," Janine told him. Ray and Rose tried to stifle their laughter. Seeing Janine trying to flirt with Egon was hilarious. "I can tell. I bet you like to read a lot, too."

Egon simply replied, "Print is dead." He knelt down next to Janine's monitor and started fiddling with it.

_Ooh, sorry Janine. Keep trying, though._

"Oh, that's very fascinating to me," Janine continued, not to be deterred. "I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual, but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play racquetball. Do you have any hobbies?"

Rose leaned forward and whispered to Ray, "Janine sounds like she's at a speed dating convention."

Ray chuckled and nodded his agreement. Egon clearly didn't understand what she was trying to do because he sighed and said, "I collect spores, mold, and fungus," before walking away.

Ray shook his head and then opened the hood of the car and propped it up. He bent over into it and apparently reached down far. Rose was treated to a very nice view of Ray's butt. Rose let herself get semi-distracted and had to keep shaking her head to clear her mind when Ray asked her for a tool.

Apparently, she got so distracted that she couldn't hear Ray's voice anymore because he slowly came out of the car and turned around. He waved a hand in front of her face and she came crashing back to Earth.

"Didn't you hear me, Rose?"

Rose shook her head and Ray said, "What were you staring at?"

Rose raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, my eyesight may not be the best, but I'm not blind, Ray."

"Huh?"

Rose huffed and, taking a stab at being blunt, said, "Ray, you are very attractive man."

Ray turned red, which by now was to be expected. Rose just plowed on and said, "You were practically upside down in that car. I had a very nice view of your butt. That's what I was staring at."

Ray had steadily been going redder and redder, until he looked like he was on fire. "R-Really?" he squeaked. Rose nodded and he said, "O-oh. Well...I...I mean...uh..."

Ray gave up on trying to say something and just went back inside the car. Rose sighed and was about to say something to Ray, but then she noticed a woman walking in, looking kind of scared and worried. She had wild curly hair and was, from what Rose could see, very pretty.

"Hello?" she called out. Rose busied herself with the tools so that she wouldn't have to talk to this woman. She didn't know why, but she felt that Peter should be the one to deal with her. The woman walked right by the car and apparently didn't notice Ray.

_How could she not notice him, especially in those pants? I am the only one who appreciates Ray's hotness?! _Rose thought. But that was fine with her, if she was. Then she could have Ray all to herself.

Although the woman didn't notice Ray, Ray noticed her and looked behind him at the woman and then at Rose, frowning. Rose shrugged and mouthed, "_Customer?_"

Ray mouthed back, "_Maybe._"

His face had gone back to the normal color but when he remembered what happened, he turned a light pink and smiled at Rose. She rolled her eyes and walked to the side of the car and Ray looked at her, a cautious look in his eyes.

"Ray, every time I say something flirtatious or do something flirtatious to you, you blush like a madman. Why?"

Ray swallowed and avoided her eyes. Rose hesitantly touched Ray's cheek and he looked back up at her. His voice was incredibly soft when he spoke. "I guess I'm just not used to someone like you being interested in me. I don't...I've never been good at this."

"What do you mean, someone like me?"

"Rose, I wish you could see yourself the way I do. I wish you could see how amazing you are. How beautiful you are. How much you deserve better than me, Rose."

"Better -? Ray, there is no better than you. Not in my world. You're it for me. You're everything I've ever dreamt of."

Ray blushed yet again but this time he looked directly in her eyes. "You know, we really shouldn't do this. You're my best friend's little sister. Peter would kill me."

"Ray. I don't care what Peter would say or think. It isn't up to him."

"Really?" Ray asked. "I know how much you mean to each other. I would think that you would want his approval."

"Ray, of course I would want him to approve. But if he refused to, then I would tell him to screw himself and go on being with you. I wouldn't let something like that stop me."

Rose leaned forward and kissed Ray as best she could with the car being there. They tried to make it last as long as they possibly could but Ray ended it when they heard Peter's voice.

"I'm Peter Venkman," Peter was talking to the woman who had walked in. Ray and Rose smiled at each other and they both moved away from the car. "May I help you?"

"I-I don't know. What I'm about to say may sound a little unusual."

"Oh, that's all we get day in, day out around this place. Come into my office, Miss-"

"Barrett, Dana Barrett."

Ray and Rose looked at each other and Rose said, "I think we have a customer, Ray."

Ray grinned and nodded. He put his arm around Rose's shoulders and they started walking toward Peter's office, knowing that Peter would probably need their help. Little did they know that Miss Dana Barrett was only the beginning of a long and unbelievable journey into the paranormal.


	9. Chapter 9

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 9**

Rose and Ray walked towards Peter's office, following Egon, looking at each other in excitement. Not only were they somewhat together now, even though Peter didn't know that, but they also had their first customer!

And she was pretty. Very pretty, and that worried Rose. She knew how Peter could be and she knew that if he managed to seduce this woman, then the Ghostbusters might suffer because of it. However, even though Peter could be the biggest flirt on the planet, he knew when to be professional - she hoped.

Ray had to admit, his pride was getting a big boost from kissing Rose and now putting his arm around her. He was never one to worry too much about his pride, because he never really had anything to wound or boost his pride, but holy hell, Rose was sure something to be prideful about.

Not overtly prideful, because Ray knew that Rose wouldn't like that, and he wasn't a particularly prideful person, but it was hard not to be proud, knowing that this beautiful, wonderful woman, who was perfect in his eyes, had chosen him, when she probably could have had any man on the face of the planet. But she chose him.

Before they went into Peter's office, Rose snuck one more kiss from Ray, causing him to have a goofy smile when they went in.

"Raymond, are you all right?" Egon asked, looking at the two of them. Ray had already taken his arm back from around her shoulders, so there weren't any obvious signs of them being together, but Egon seemed to know.

"Does Peter know?" he asked quietly. Ray looked slightly panicked and Rose quickly looked at her brother to make sure that he was distracted with Ms. Barrett before looking back at her very tall friend and shaking her head.

"No, he doesn't. We'll tell him eventually, but right now..."

"I won't say a word, Rose," Egon promised. And Rose knew that he was good for it. He wouldn't say a word unless Rose or Ray gave him permission to do so. "However," he continued, "Peter will be hurt that he's the last to know. He's your brother, Rose."

"I know. That's the problem; he's my _brother_. And Ray's his best friend. You saw how upset he got when I joked that Ray and I were going to elope. He'd murder Ray on the spot if he found out that we're together."

"I suppose there is some truth in that. But, he'll figure it out sooner or later if you two keep sneaking rather obvious kisses from one another when you think no one else is looking."

This time, both Ray and Rose blushed. Egon smirked and Rose said, "Oh, shut up, Egon, you're one to talk. Are you sure you were only "fixing Janine's computer" down there? She's very interested in you, you know."

Now it was Rose's turn to smirk as Egon flushed a little and gaped like a fish out of water. Ray chuckled and Rose said, "Come on, you two. Peter needs our help."

Peter was currently trying to hook Ms. Barrett up to a brain wave reading machine - one of Egon's, and he was failing spectacularly.

"Peter, hold on a minute," Rose said. Her older brother looked up from his struggle and said, "Hey, brainiac, get over here and help me, will you?"

The three of them looked at one another and Ray said, "Which brainiac?"

"Egon!"

Ray and Rose made noises of understanding and Egon went over to help his friend and co-worker. Eventually, they got her hooked up right and Peter was "elected" as the one to ask Ms. Barrett questions while the other three monitored her brain waves.

"-And this voice said, "Zuul". And then I slammed the refrigerator door and I left. That was two days ago, and I haven't been back to my apartment," Ms. Barrett told them.

"Generally, you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance. What do you think it was?" Peter asked.

_That's a stupid question, Peter_, Rose thought.

"Well, if I knew what it was I wouldn't be here," Ms. Barrett said coldly, as Egon removed the pads and Ray shut off the screen that were monitoring her brainwaves. Rose couldn't blame her for her tone, either.

Peter wasn't deterred and turned to Egon, who was wearing a head lamp. "Egon, what do you think?"

Egon turned to him and shined the lamp in Peter's eyes by accident. "She's telling the truth. At least, she thinks she is." Peter waved at Egon's lamp and he turned it off. Peter blinked a couple times, trying to regain his vision.

"Well, of course, I'm telling the truth! Who would make up a story like that?" Ms. Barrett told them. Rose finally spoke up from where she was standing (which was next to Ray) and said, "Oh you'd be surprised."

"Yeah," Peter said. "Some are people who just want attention. Others, just nutballs who come in off the street."

"You know what it could be?" Ray asked, as though an idea had just struck him, which it probably had. "Past-life experience intruding on present time," he concluded, sitting down with a beer in his hand. Rose plopped down next to him and said, "It's a good idea, Ray, but I don't know. It seems just too weird. Like, if a past life was intruding on present time, why would show up in her refrigerator? You'd think that she would have been having visions of things that she never did, or scenes from another time."

"Hmm, you could be right. Still, it could be a past life."

Egon, walking over to the couch and grabbing a box of Cheez-Its, said, "Could be erased memories stored in the collective unconscious. I wouldn't rule out clairvoyance or telepathic contact, either."

Egon sat down on the other side of Ray as Ms. Barrett said, "I'm sorry, I don't believe in any of those things."

Just as Rose was about to say that just because she didn't believe in those things didn't make them unreal, Peter stood up and bent over and said, "That's all right. I don't either." Rose chewed on the piece of gum she had just popped in her mouth slowly while thinking, _Peter, you're full of it._

Ray and Egon looked at each other and then looked back at Peter and Dana. "But there are some things that we do," Peter said, while walking behind Dana and signaling to the others to come up with something. "Standard procedures we carry out in a case like this which often bring us results."

Ray got the message and said, "Well, I could go down to the hall of records and check out the structural details in the building. Maybe the building itself has a history of psychic turbulence."

"And I'll go with him. Two sets of eyes are better than one in a case like this," Rose said. Although she genuinely wanted to help Dana, and she did believe that two sets of eyes are better than one, her ulterior motive was to spend more time, alone, with Ray. Thinking like that made her feel like a teenager sneaking out of her house while she was grounded, but hey, whatever time she got with, Ray, he would take.

Egon smiled slightly at Rose, knowing her ulterior motive, but said nothing about it. Peter nodded and said, "Right, good idea."

Egon then said, "I could look up the name Zuul in the usual literature."

Ray suggested, "Spates Catalogue."

Egon countered with, "Tobin's Spirit Guide."

"Yeah," Ray said.

Peter nodded and said, "Tell you what. I'll go back to Ms. Barrett's apartment and check her out ."

Dana looked at him strangely and Rose gave him a warning look. Peter realized his mistake and blinked and said, "I'll go check out Ms. Barrett's apartment. Okay?"

Dana nodded and said, "Okay."

Peter made faces at himself, mostly likely berating himself for his own stupidity, and Dana said, "Thank you."

Peter and Dana left and Egon got to work, which left Ray and Rose to leave for the Hall of Records.

"Alright, well, we'd better get going," Rose said, standing up. She gave Ray her hand and hauled him up from the couch. Ray smiled and didn't let go of Rose's hand, which made her smile, which made him blush.

As they walked back out of Peter's office, and Ray was still a little pink, Rose said, "Jesus, Ray, if you keep blushing, you're going to give it all away."

"Sorry," Ray said, looking like a child who was caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. Rose rolled her eyes and said, "Ray, don't worry about it. I think it's cute."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or annoyed that you think I'm only cute."

"Oh my god."

"What?"

"Did I wound your male pride by calling your blushing cute?" she teased.

"Yes," he pouted. Rose giggled and kissed him softly before saying, "You're not only very cute, you're also very sexy."

He smiled and Rose said, "Better?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, let's go look up those structural details," Rose said, tightening the hold on Ray's hand and pulling him along. He had no complaints whatsoever, and he never would, if she kept kissing him that way.

The only storm cloud on the horizon of their proverbial sunny day was that they had to hide their budding relationship from Peter. But other than that, Ray could not be happier that Rose was his.


	10. Chapter 10

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 9**

A couple days after Ray and Rose got the blueprints for Dana's building, they stopped at the boys' favorite Chinese restaurant and got takeout for everyone. They brought it back to Headquarters and, by the time that they got back, night had fallen and Peter was back, looking half glum, half determined. She grabbed Ray's arm and took him aside.

"Ray, Peter's looking a little sad. I'm going to talk to him. You take the food and get started, we'll be along."

"Okay," Ray said. He took the food and went off after sneaking a kiss from her. Luckily, Peter was staring off into space so he didn't notice. Rose wanted to berate Ray for the kiss because Peter was so close, but she loved kissing Ray so she didn't.

"What's up with you, Peter?" Rose asked. Her older brother looked at her and said, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Sure you do. You always wanna talk about it, Pete," Rose sat down next to her brother and looked at him.

"Not this time, Rosie. This time is different."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." This was how Peter got when he was upset or thinking about something; his answers, if you even got one, were usually monosyllabic.

"So, you didn't successfully get a date with one Dana Barrett?"

"Nope."

"You gonna give up on her?"

"No."

"So, what's your plan?"

"Solve her case. Maybe somewhere along the line, she'll agree to a date."

"Kay. So what makes her different than all the rest?"

"I don't know. Feels different than the rest."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I don't know...what is it?"

"Oh, Pete," Rose rested her head on his shoulder and said, "you're in love."

"It hurts."

"Yeah. I know. But only sometimes."

"You know?"

"Yeah," Rose's answers started to become automatic and she didn't realize what she said. "It hurts when you can't be with the one you're in love with."

She immediately started thinking about how much it physically hurt when her feelings for Ray were only known by herself. But now they were together, so it didn't hurt anymore. Right now, it was the best feeling in the world, being with Ray. Because she loved him. She really and truly loved him.

"But how do you -? When have **you** ever been in love?"

"What?" Rose snapped back into reality.

"You said that you knew being in love hurt sometimes. I asked you when you were ever in love."

"O-Oh," Rose stuttered. _Think, Rose, think! Maybe I should just tell him the truth. No, now's not the time._

"This guy, when I was younger. I was in love with him and he had a girlfriend. It hurt, not being able to be with him. God, did it hurt. And then he broke up with his girlfriend and told me he loved me. Four months later, he slapped me for something stupid. I was in love with him until then."

"What was his name?" Peter growled.

"It doesn't matter. After he slapped me, I told him it was over. I threatened to kill him if he ever came near me again. I'm no one's punching bag."

"I still wanna know his name. Just his first name. That can't do any harm, right?" Peter asked.

Rose hesitated. That story was true, but she cut out a lot of the real thing. He did slap her, but that wasn't the only time he did it. He'd done tons of times before that, but that was when Rose finally had it. It had hurt her that he told her he loved her and then turned around and beat her. That wasn't love. What she had with Ray, that was love. It had been 4 years ago, and she had gotten over it and moved on, but it still hurt to think about it. She buried that relationship in a hole 6 feet deep and she didn't really wanna dig it up again. He had messed her up and because of him, she had had trust issues with any man that wanted to have a romantic relationship with her. Needless to say, that one relationship was the cause of ruin for several others. Except for Ray. Because she already trusted him. She'd known him since she was 14, 15 years old. And she'd loved him for just about as long. It's just that for some of the time, she didn't know it.

But, Peter was her brother. He deserved to know the first name of the guy who smacked his sister around, at the very least.

"His name was Larry."

"Larry. Okay."

"Okay."

Peter snorted suddenly and Rose said, "What?"

"Nothing...it's just...you went out with a guy named Larry." Peter started cracking up and soon Rose joined in.

"He kinda sounds like a loser, Rosie."

"He was. But he thought he was the shit. Until I kicked him in the nuts."

"Atta girl," Peter said, a smile on his face now.

"Okay, big brother of mine, let's go eat. Ray and I brought Chinese."

Peter nodded and stood up. As they walked, Rose said, "And Peter, don't worry about Dana. Que sera, sera."

"Huh?"

"It's Spanish. Means, 'whatever will be, will be'. So don't worry about it."

Peter nodded and said, "Thanks, sis."

"That's what siblings are for."

Rose walked ahead and as she climbed the stairs to get to the upper level, where their eating and living areas were, Peter thought.

Rose would say that was dangerous, but Peter was actually seriously thinking. He wasn't sure that Rose had been entirely honest with him about her being in love.

He didn't doubt that the story she told him was true, but he had a feeling there was more. He also noticed that Rose and Ray were spending a lot of time together. Could they be...? No, he was being stupid.

If his sister and his best friend were involved with one another, they'd tell him about it right away. He was sure of it. But still, there was something that Rose wasn't telling him. What could it be?

* * *

As they were eating dinner, Peter raised his beer can and said, "To our first customer."

Ray, Egon, and Rose raised their respective drinks and Ray said, "To our first and _only_ customer."

"Way to be positive, Ray," Rose said after she swallowed the sip of Coke that she took. Ray shrugged and said, "Hey, you're not exactly an optimist, either, sweetheart."

Peter narrowed his eyes at the term of endearment but, to his credit, if Ray was horrified at his slip-up, he showed nothing. Rose shook her head and continued the conversation like nothing had happened.

"No, I'm not. In fact, I'm what some would call a pessimist. I like the term 'realist' better, but there you go."

Ray grinned at the easy banter between them and Peter said, "I'm going to need to take out some petty cash. We should take her out to dinner. We don't wanna lose her."

"Uh," Ray started, gesturing at the Chinese before them. "This magnificent feast represents the last of the petty cash."

And it was true. They spent most of the money on the suits, the premises, and the equipment. The last of it was spent on the food they got tonight. Rose heard Janine's phone ring but didn't put much stock by it.

Peter glared at Ray and said, "Slow down. Chew your food," in a sort of cherish it while you've got it tone of voice. From downstairs, they could hear Janine speaking to someone on the phone and then something unbelievable occurred.

"WE GOT ONE!" Janine screamed up at them before sounding the alarm that used to alert the firefighters to a fire.

"It's a call," Ray said, a stunned tone in his voice.

"Hell yeah, it's a call," Rose exclaimed. "Come on, boys!"

The four of them slid down the firemen's pole and suited up. And just like that, they were off, after getting the destination from Janine, heading to their very first call.


	11. Chapter 11

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 11**

Rose was thrilled. Beyond thrilled. There wasn't even a word that could describe how excited and happy she was.

The Ghostbusters had gotten their first call!

And it was at the Sedgewick Hotel, of all places. It was incredible. Ray was very excited too, and he was driving, so unfortunately that meant that Rose and Egon, who had gotten stuck with the back seat, were slammed into each other more than a couple times.

After one particularly sharp turn, Rose went barreling into Egon and their heads clonked together rather painfully.

"Ow! Damnit!"

Ray looked in the rearview mirror and looked at the two of them.

"You two all right back there? I heard someone swear. Rose, was that you?"

"No," Rose snapped, rubbing her head. Egon fixed his glasses and Rose said, "That was Egon."

"Oh, really? Egon, I didn't even know you knew any swears!" Peter joked. Egon glared at him and Rose said, "Hey, Speed Racer, you feel like cooling it on the steering wheel, before both my and Egon's brains turn to mush?"

"Huh?" Ray asked.

"You, plus excitement, plus control of car, equals sharp turns and many bruises for me and Egon," Rose said, only half serious. She wanted to be mad at him for his nutty driving, but she just couldn't be.

"Oh, sorry," Ray said, a goofy smile on his face.

Egon grumbled and Rose said, "It's fine."

For the rest of drive, Ray kept his sharp turns to a minimum, and they finally arrived at their destination. Rose opened the door of the car and clambered out.

"Land! Beautiful land!" she exclaimed, sending a joking look at Ray, who was good-naturedly glaring at her. She gave him a sarcastic, and at the same time beautiful, smile and he started chuckling. Egon rolled his eyes and Peter, yet again, looked at them suspiciously.

"What, Peter?" Rose called him out on his suspicious look.

"Nothing. It's just...you two," he gestured at Ray and Rose. "You're acting like..."

"Like what?" Ray asked.

"Like...are you two...you know..." Peter seemed like he didn't want to say it but Rose made a face and said, "Are we what, Peter? Just say it."

_This might be it, _Rose thought. _This might be when we have to come clean._

"I really don't...fine, are you two screwing?"

"_What_?" Ray and Rose asked incredulously.

"Are you two screwing? Are you two doing it?"

"Peter, I can tell you, in no uncertain terms, that your sister and I have never slept with each other," Ray said, trying not to look nervous and trying to look reassuring at the same time. Rose didn't know how, but somehow he pulled it off.

Peter frowned and said, "Well...okay, if you were, you'd tell me right?"

Egon looked in any direction but Rose and Ray's and Rose decided it was time to give him a little bit of the truth - not revealing her relationship with Ray, but just telling him what she told Ray.

"Peter, you're my brother, and I love you, but even if I was sleeping with Ray, which I'm not," _yet_ Rose added in her mind, "it wouldn't be any of your business, okay?"

Peter pouted and said, "You're my sister and you're my best friend." He gestured to the two of them. "I think that if you two were together, I would have a right to know about it."

"Peter, that would be entirely up to Ray and I. We would tell you, eventually, but think about it. You freaked out when I joked that Ray and I were going to elope. What would you do if we were together and you found out?"

"I'd be mad that you didn't tell me immediately, but I wouldn't get in the way of you two. I'd be happy for you," Peter said, very earnestly. Rose wanted to believe him, but she couldn't help but think that he was only saying that because he wanted to know if there was anything he should know.

It might have been paranoid, but Rose thought that he was trying to lull her into a false sense of security and get her to let something slip.

"Well, I promise," Ray said, "that if Rose and I ever were in a completely serious relationship, you'd be the first to know."

Rose turned to look at him. _Completely serious? What the hell does that mean? _

She was going to have to talk to him later about that.

"Okay, thanks, Ray," Peter said. They helped each other into the equipment that they would be using the catch the ghost, which Egon told them were called Proton Packs. They were very heavy, but she was perfectly able to carry it. It was only a little bit heavier than her backpack got sometimes during high school.

She always hated how heavy her textbooks were. Rose pushed those thoughts away and followed the others as they walked into the hotel.

"Hey, anybody seen a ghost?" Peter called loudly. Rose shook her head at her brother but said nothing.

A woman walked by and looked at them strangely. Rose supposed that they must have been a sight to see, with their tan jumpsuits and proton packs. Peter just smiled at her and the other three looked right back at her.

"Thank you for coming so quickly!" a voice said behind them. They all jumped and turned to look at who Rose guessed was the hotel manager. "The guests are starting to ask questions and I'm running out of excuses."

"Has it happened before?" Ray asked.

"Well, most of the original staff knows about the twelfth floor; the disturbances, I mean. But it's been quiet for years! Up until two weeks ago. It was never, ever this bad, though."

"And you're just now calling us?" Rose asked. Why would he wait so long?

"Well, to be frank, Ms...?"

"Venkman. Rose Venkman. This is my brother Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Ray Stantz, and Dr. Egon Spengler."

The hotel manager nodded and Egon said, trying to get back on the subject of the ghost, "Did you ever report it to anyone?"

"Heavens, no!"

"Oh no," Peter said to Egon, jokingly. "You kidding?"

"The owners don't even like us to talk about it. I hope we can take care of this. Quietly! Tonight!" the hotel manager said.

"Yes, sir. Don't worry," Ray said, putting on a pair of goggles that resembled night-vision goggles. "We handle this kind of thing all the time."

They walked up to an elevator and a man holding a cigar looked at the four of them. "What are you supposed to be, some kind of a cosmonaut?"

Peter laughed and Rose said, "No, we're exterminators."

"Someone saw a cockroach up on twelve," Peter said, going along with her explanation.

"That's gotta be some cockroach," the guy said.

"Bite your head off, man," Peter said.

The elevator arrived and they piled inside. Cigar Guy stayed put though. Ray leaned out and said, "Going up?"

"I'll take the next one," he said.

Ray shrugged and went back inside the elevator. The doors closed and Ray said, "You know, it's just occurred to me, we haven't had a completely successful test of this equipment."

Rose nodded and Egon said, "I blame myself."

"So do I," Peter said. Rose smacked his arm and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"No sense worrying about it now," Rose said.

"Why worry?" Peter said. "Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on their back."

"Yep," Ray said. "Let's get ready. Switch me on!"

Egon, who was standing behind Ray, turned on his proton pack and then backed away. Rose was standing next to Ray but sort of leaned away when the thing started making a noise. Peter switched on Rose's pack and she did the same for him. Somehow Egon managed to switch his on by himself.

The elevator doors opened and they all stepped out.

"Come on," Ray said. Egon charged his pack and they whirled around when a maid came out of a room behind them, humming.

Ray and Egon shouted and shot at her with proton beams. Luckily, Rose and Peter weren't so trigger happy, because if they had, the cart she was pushing around would have probably blown up. As it was, the beams were setting fire to the rolls of toilet paper on the cart.

"Hold it!" Peter commanded. Rose put her hand on Ray's arm to get him to stop. Both Ray and Egon stopped shooting and Ray looked horrified at what he'd done.

The maid crawled out from behind the cart and exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry," Egon said.

"Sorry," the Venkman siblings apologized for their friends and Ray said, "I'm sorry."

"We thought you were someone else," Peter explained. The maid started gathering up her fallen items and glared at them. Peter turned back to them and said, "Successful test."

"I guess so. I think we'd better split up," Ray said.

"Good idea," Egon said.

"Yeah, we can do more damage that way," Peter said. Peter went one way, Egon went another and Ray and Rose went another.

Ray lit up a cigarette while looking around. Rose gave him a look that plainly said she didn't like the smoking.

"Hey, I smoke. Deal with it," Ray said defensively.

Rose clicked her tongue and shrugged. She was still kinda upset about the "completely serious relationship" comment that Ray said. It was petty, sure, but she didn't understand why he said that.

"What's up with you?" Ray asked.

"Nothing," Rose said in a tone that said clearly it was something.

"Right. You wanna try that again? Make it sound more convincing?"

Rose huffed and said, "It's just...what did you mean when you told Peter if we were in a 'completely serious' relationship, he'd be the first to know?"

Ray shrugged and said, "Just that; if we were in a serious relationship, he'd be the first to know."

"So we're not serious?"

Ray made a sound of understanding. "Now I get it."

Rose folded her arms and looked away. "Look, I know that I'm being stupid, but I can't help it. I thought that you were taking this," she gestured between them, "seriously."

"I am, Rose. Really, I am. Look, we had to throw Peter off the truth, didn't we?"

"Yeah, I guess, but you didn't have to say it like that. God, I sound so stupid."

"No you don't. You don't. You could never sound stupid, Rose," Ray said, holding her hand with the hand that wasn't holding his cigarette. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I should have thought about what I was saying and how it sounded."

"No, I shouldn't be so petty. It's just...the feelings that I have for you are something that I take very seriously, and it hurt to think that you didn't feel the same way."

"Are you kidding me? Rose, I've never felt this way about anyone before. Of course I take what we have seriously."

Rose looked into Ray's eyes and saw that he only had truth and love in them. She took Ray's face in her hands and kissed him more passionately than she ever had and Ray put his cigarette-free hand on her waist. When they separated, Ray had the most adorable smile on his face.

"So, we're good?" Ray asked.

"Yes. And we're serious?" Rose replied, smiling at him.

"Very serious. Yes, definitely."

Rose smiled and said, "Okay, handsome. Let's go find this ghost."

"Sounds good, beautiful," Ray said, trying his hand at a pet name. Rose laughed and rolled her eyes. Ray shrugged and said, "Like I said before, I'm not used to someone like you wanting to be with me."

"Get used to it, Ray. If I have my way, we're going to be with each other for a long time."

Ray bit his lip and Rose would have tackled him right there and then if they hadn't both been wearing the very expensive and dangerous proton packs.

"You'll never hear any objections from me."

"That's what I wanna hear."

* * *

**So what did you guys think about the moment between Ray and Rose at the end? And Peter's getting even more suspicious. Will he work it out soon? Who knows?**

**Keep reading and reviewing to find out!**


	12. AUTHOR'S NOTE, NOT A CHAPTER!

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Hey everybody! I am still around, I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth, don't worry. I'm sorry that I haven't been updating at all for this story, but I've been more focused on my other in-the-works story, "Devyn Murphy: First Year at Hogwarts".**

**I really am sorry, and I hope that you haven't all abandoned this story, because I will update it, when I've finished with "Devyn Murphy". Also, I've been pretty busy with school (Senior year is a pretty hectic time, what can I say?). **

**I WILL RETURN TO THIS STORY! I don't know **_**exactly **_**when that will be, but I promise I will.**

**Until then, please keep reading my stories, and don't give up on "The Flower and the Heart."**

**Nathan Lane-Beatles Luvr**


	13. Chapter 12

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**AN: I have returned at long last! I know it has been forever since the last chapter was posted. Here is the next one. Sorry I was gone for so long, but I really needed to finish that other story. I really only had time for one story, and I chose that one. Sorry to all my readers...but I am back, so...here we go.**

**Chapter 12**

Rose and Ray were walking along and Rose was just starting to wonder where in _hell_ this ghost could be, when they rounded a corner, and lo and behold, the ghost was right there in front of him.

He was a blob, which Rose supposed was the nicest way to put it. He was bright green and currently devouring everything on a room service cart - rather messily.

Rose's eyes widened when she saw it. She looked at Ray and laughed silently when she saw his face. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his mouth was hanging open. His cigarette was dangling out of his mouth, and it was just barely hanging on.

Ray slowly edged back the way they came and called quietly, "Venkman...Venkman!"

But, this was pointless, because by this time, Peter was a long way away. Ray looked back at the ghost, who was still stuffing his face.

"Ugh..." Ray said. "Disgusting blob..." He looked at Rose and said quietly, "We're gonna have to hold him ourselves."

Rose nodded and they both charged their packs. They took aim and fired. Rose's aim was pretty spot on, but Ray's wasn't. The ghost got startled and zoomed away through a wall, the room service cart somehow following after him. However, the cart didn't go through the wall with the ghost and instead slammed into a table up against the wall, breaking a vase in the process.

"Awesome," Rose deadpanned. Ray shrugged sheepishly and said, "Sorry."

Suddenly they heard Peter's voice over the walkie-talkie. "Come in, Ray."

Ray grabbed his walkie-talkie and said, "Venkman! We saw it, we saw it! We saw it!"

Rose giggled at Ray's unending enthusiasm and Peter said, "It's right here, Ray. It's looking at me."

As annoying as Peter could be, he was still her brother, and Rose suddenly got very anxious about the ghost being near Peter. They didn't know how violent or dangerous this ghost was, and they didn't know if it would hurt Peter.

Ray, unfortunately, was not thinking along the same lines as Rose because he then said, "He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?"

This did nothing for Rose's increasing anxiety, and it skyrocketed when Peter said, "I think he can hear you, Ray."

Rose started walking in circles, making wild motions with her arms. Ray, obviously, noticed her problem and said, "Don't move. It won't hurt you."

Unfortunately, this didn't work because seconds later, they heard Peter scream. Rose bolted away from Ray to go find Peter, and then suddenly, Ray was right beside her.

Luckily, they found him quickly, but by the time they got there, the ghost was gone and Peter was on the ground, covered in green slime.

"Venkman!" Ray exclaimed. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Peter spit out some green slime and said, "He slimed me!" Seeing that her brother was okay, and in quite a humorous situation, Rose doubled over in laughter.

"Oh, you think this is funny, Rose?!" Peter asked angrily. Rose tried to control her laughter, but couldn't and burst out again after managing to choke out a "Yes! H-hey, maybe we should call him Slimer!"

"That's great! Actual physical contact!" Ray said happily. Rose just laughed harder at the fact that Peter was the only one angry or worried about this. It was too funny. "Can you move?" Ray asked.

"Ray! Ray, come in please!" Egon's voice erupted over the radio. Ray grabbed his radio and Peter said, "I feel so funky."

Rose could barely breathe at this point, so she knew she had to calm down. She had somehow collapsed to the ground during her laughing spell, and was now sitting against a wall. As she did some deep breathing exercises, Ray said to Egon over the radio, "Spengler! We're with Venkman! He got slimed!"

"That's great, Ray! Save some for me!" Egon told him. Rose broke out into giggles again when Egon said that. _Oh, Egon. Only Egon Spengler_, Rose thought.

"Get down here right away," Egon continued. "It just went into a ballroom!"

After Ray helped Rose up from the floor, they both turned and pulled Peter up, before the three of them dashed back downstairs to the ballroom. Peter, Egon, and Rose went into the ballroom first, leaving Ray to deal with the disgruntled hotel manager.

"Okay, sir," Ray told him as he starting closing the ballroom doors in his face. "If you and your staff will wait out here, we'll take care of everything."

Ray joined the other three Ghostbusters, where they were hiding under a table. Ray put on his Ecto-Goggles and quickly located Slimer.

"There it is, on the ceiling," Ray told them. Peter nodded and said, "That's the one that got me."

They came out from under the table and Ray said, "All right, guys. Ready? Throw it!"

The four of them fired - but they didn't hit Slimer. What they did hit was a very expensive looking chandelier, which fell to a table below with a loud crash. Rose shook her head and Ray said, "I did that! I did that! That's my fault!"

"That's okay, the table broke the fall," Peter told him. Rose face palmed at her brother's comment. Sometimes they were really inappropriate and unwanted.

Egon suddenly said, "There's something very important I forgot to tell you."

"What?" Peter asked. Rose looked at Egon with a wary expression on her face.

"Don't cross the streams," Egon replied.

"Why?" Rose asked. Egon looked at her and said, "It would be bad."

"I'm fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing. What do you mean, 'bad'?" Peter asked. Egon's expression didn't change when he said, "Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

Ray and Rose's eyes got wide and they both said, "Total protonic reversal."

Although Peter didn't quite understand the implications of what would happen, he said, "All right, that's bad, okay. Important safety tip, thanks Egon. All right. Ray, take the left."

Ray went to the left and Peter said, "Egon, take the right. Rose, go straight across from me."

Egon and Rose went to their designated spots and Peter said, "Okay, Ray. Give me one eye on the outside...Ray!"

On command, Ray fired at Slimer, but once again missed. Slimer screamed and flew away. Peter shouted, "Egon!"

Egon fired at Slimer and the little green guy ducked behind a bar. Rose, Ray, and Peter watched as Slimer evaded Egon's proton beam and flew back up towards the ceiling. Unfortunately, Egon didn't, and kept on firing at the bar.

"Okay, all right! Hold it, hold it! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter shouted, trying to get Egon to stop. Finally, after Rose and Ray joined in with Peter's efforts, Egon stopped and Peter joked, "Wow, nice shootin' Tex!"

Ray stared up at Slimer and said, "The last throw took something out of him, but he's gonna move! I-I need some room to put the trap down, give me some room!"

Egon and Peter threw a table out of the way and Ray started getting the trap ready. "We gotta get this in the clear!"

Ray moved towards a table, but Peter stopped him. "Wait, wait! I always wanted to do this."

Rose rolled her eyes when Peter pulled the tablecloth out from under everything that was under it. However, only the flowers remained after Peter's 'amazing' magic trick.

"And the flowers are still standing!" Peter exclaimed. Again, Rose rolled her eyes, but said nothing. It was time to get down to business and catch Slimer anyway. Ray put the trap down and said, "Okay, on my go signal. Spengler, Rose, I want confinement streams from you, okay? GO!"

Egon and Rose fired and the orange and blue streams hit Slimer.

"Okay," Ray said. "Hold him up there, he's gonna move. Hold him up. Go!" Peter took the hint and fired his stream. It made contact with Slimer and Egon said, "It's working, Ray!"

Rose felt her excitement skyrocketing. They were actually about to capture a ghost! "Start bringing him down, start bringing him down! You got him - DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS!" Ray warned them. They slowly started dragging Slimer down to where Ray had put the trap.

"Maybe now you'll never slime a guy with a positron collider, huh?" Peter shouted at Slimer. Rose shook her head and continued trying to drag Slimer down.

"Venkman! Shorten your stream, I don't want my face burned off!" Egon shouted at Peter. Peter did as Egon asked and Ray said, "All right, I'm opening the trap now. Don't look directly into the trap!"

Ray opened the trap and Rose could see the blue glow from the machine. Egon's eyes widened and said, "I looked at the trap, Ray!"

Ray ignored him and said, "Bring your streams off as soon as I close the trap! Get ready! I'm closing it...NOW!"

Ray closed the trap and Rose, Peter, and Egon turned off their streams. They looked away as Slimer got sucked down into the trap. They all looked at it, but they kept their weapons pointed at it, in case somehow Slimer got loose and they had to do it all over again.

Peter edged forward and shoved the trap with his foot. The trap retaliated by creating little waves of blue lightning. "It's in there," Egon confirmed.

Rose let out a sigh of relief and Ray laughed. "Now that wasn't such a chore, now was it?" he said. Egon, Peter, and Rose all looked at him like he was nuts. However, Rose shrugged and said, "We did it!"

Ray nodded and smiled goofily at her. Rose grinned right back and Egon just bent over to pick up the trap. Rose snuck a glance at Peter out of her peripherals and noticed he was looking suspiciously at her and Ray again.

Rose was getting worried. Eventually Peter would figure it out. He wasn't stupid, after all. She loved being with Ray - she loved Ray! Honestly, though, she didn't want to deal with the backlash that Peter would create when he found out. She knew that he would be a pain in the ass when he found out...she figured she would have to talk to Ray about telling Peter.

She didn't want to tell him so soon after assuring Peter that she and Ray weren't together. It would look pretty bad and Peter could act like a petulant child when he wanted to.

Egon handed the trap to Ray and Peter led them over to the door. He opened it and announced to the crowd that had gathered there, "We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!"

"Did you see it? What is it?" the hotel manager asked them. Ray went over to him with the trap, which was smoking heavily, and said, "We got it!"

"What is it? Will there be more of them?" the hotel manager repeated.

"Sir, what you have there," Rose told him, "is what we refer to as a focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm, or a Class Five full roaming vapor."

"Real nasty one, too!" Ray said, his childlike enthusiasm back in full swing. Peter then stepped forward and said, "Now, let's talk seriously now. For the entrapment, we're gonna have to ask you for..." Egon signaled to Peter with four fingers against the side of his face. "Four big ones. Four thousand dollars for that. But we are having a special this week on proton charging and storage of the beast, and that's only going to come to..."

Egon did it again, only this time with one finger. "One thousand, fortunately."

Rose stifled her laughter as best she could. The boys were seriously milking this for all it was worth.

"Five thousand dollars?! I had no idea it would be so much. I won't pay it," the hotel manager said. Peter smiled and said, "Well, that's alright - we can just put it right back in there."

"We certainly can, Dr. Venkman," Ray agreed. Rose nodded and looked at the manager defiantly.

"Between you and me, mister," Rose told him. "I'd pay the money. Do you really think that a measly five grand will matter in the long run, when you're preventing three times that in damages that the ghost will cause if released?"

The hotel manager looked terrified and said, "No, no, no, no! All right, I'll pay anything!"

"Thanks so much," Peter said. Ray grinned and said, "Thank you! Hope we can help you again!"

Ray walked forward, holding the trap out in front of him, and said, "All right, coming through! Watch out! Class Five full roaming vapor! Watch out!"

When they finally got back to the Ecto-1, and put away their gear, Rose collapsed onto the back seat and Peter hopped in the driver's side. Egon took shotgun and Ray took the back with Rose.

Once he was settled in, Ray turned to Rose and said, "You were brilliant in there. Not only with catching the ghost, but with getting the guy to pay, too."

Rose smiled and grabbed Ray's hand, which she knew was far out of Peter's view of the back seat. "I know!" she said.

Ray laughed and squeezed her hand. She rested her head against his shoulder and almost immediately fell asleep. Before she passed out, she said, "You were brilliant, too, Ray."

Rose fell asleep and left Ray with a very big smile on his face.

_I love her so much. I truly love her...and I think...I think I wanna marry this girl_, Ray thought. _Yeah, I wanna marry Rose. Hmm, Mrs. Rose Stantz. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Stantz. That sounds good to me. Wonder if she would think the same way..._

Ray looked down at the sleeping form of the love of his life and smiled. Unfortunately, Peter noticed and Ray didn't see that he noticed.

_That's it,_ Peter thought. _I've had it. I've had it with the little smiles and the shifty glances. I've had it with the secrecy that I __**know**__ has been surrounding everyone. There's something going on between Ray and Rose and __**I'm gonna find out what**__!_

* * *

**Ruh-roh, Scooby Doo! Looks like Peter is fed up with all the secrets. Will Ray and Rose finally have to tell him the truth? How will Peter deal with it? Keep reading and reviewing to find out!**


	14. Chapter 13

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 13**

After the Sedgewick Hotel job, the Ghostbusters took off! **Everybody** wanted them to solve their 'ghost' problems. Sometimes it was just someone's trash cans getting ransacked by a raccoon or something when someone complained of hearing unexplainable noises, but often it was a real ghost.

Of course, they also got calls from absolute nutcases. One time, not long after the Sedgewick, Rose remembered getting a call that a Revolutionary War Patriot was following this man around. Rose had been really excited about that one, because she was a bit of a history buff and the Revolutionary War was in one of her favorite time periods.

Unfortunately, the guy turned out to be an escaped mental ward patient. Rose had been disappointed, but when Ray came up behind her and put an arm around her shoulders, she felt better about it. Thinking back on it, they were lucky the guy called at all. The doctors and cops were looking for the man and if he never called the Ghostbusters, they wouldn't have been able to tell the cops where he was.

That guy really shouldn't have been out on his own. But aside from the occasional loony, the Ghostbusters got legitimate calls all the time now. They had to start taking it in shifts, because they were getting calls at all hours of the night. Rose was pretty sure she had fallen asleep standing up a couple times.

Everyone from Larry King to Casey Kasem was talking about the Ghostbusters. Rose had people coming up to her in the streets, asking for autographs and pictures. The first time it happened, she had been caught completely unawares, and it shocked her, but she did it nonetheless. She even had a few guys walking right up to her and asking for dates. Most of the time the guys were just creeps who wanted to be able to say they dated a Ghostbuster, and Rose had no trouble shooting them down.

But sometimes, not often, but sometimes, Rose felt really bad about turning them down, because they seemed like really nice guys. But Rose was Ray's. She loved Ray and she wanted to be with no one but him.

It had been funny because the first time a guy in the street asked her out, Ray had been with her. The second the guy flashed Rose a charming smile, Ray's eyes were narrowed and Rose was pretty sure when the guy actually asked the question, Ray growled softly.

And then when she turned him down, Ray looked very smug. Rose rolled her eyes and took Ray's hand in hers. "Relax, will you? Do you really think I'm going to ditch you for some random guy I don't even know?"

"You better not. I'd be heartbroken. I'd be lost without you," Ray replied. Rose smiled and kissed him. She was glad it was just the two of them around. Peter and Egon were back at the firehouse, sleeping. Or Peter was sleeping. Rose wasn't sure Egon ever really slept.

"Well, we can't have you getting lost, or being heartbroken, now can we?" Rose said. Ray shook his head playfully and Rose sighed, "Well, I guess I'll just have to be yours forever, then."

"Yup," Ray replied. He grinned and kissed Rose gently. "You don't have a problem with that, do ya?"

"Nope," Rose said, popping the 'p'. "I rather think I love that idea."

"Good. I have no intention of letting you go anytime soon," Ray told her. Rose just smiled.

* * *

Rose was dreaming. Or she had been, until she heard someone groaning. She was a room away from the boys, but she could still hear the noise. She shrugged and got up to check.

She poked her head into the boys' room and laughed when she saw it was Ray that was groaning. But it wasn't a sleepy kind of groaning…it was more like…an "I'm in the middle of being pleasured" groaning. Rose's cheeks grew hot at the thought of what Ray could be dreaming about. Was it her that he was dreaming about?

She shook her head and made to go back to her own warm bed.

_**Thump**_.

Rose looked back over and laughed again when she saw that Ray had fallen out of bed. He was now looking around confused. His hair was sticking up in all directions and Rose went over to him.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," she whispered. Ray looked around and said, "Oh, hi, Rose. What are you doing up? And why am I on the floor?"

"I got up because I heard someone groaning, which was you, by the way. And you're on the floor because you fell out of bed," Rose replied quietly. Ray's face went red when she told him he had been groaning.

Rose helped him stand up and said, "You wanna go downstairs, get a cup of coffee or something?"

Ray nodded and the two of them went downstairs. When they reached the kitchen, Rose asked, "What were you dreaming about? You were making these noises that were, well, kinda sexy. What, were you having a dirty dream or something?"

Ray suddenly looked very awkward and mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"Y-yes, I was. About you, actually."

Rose turned around and looked at her very red boyfriend. "Really?"

"Yeah," Ray admitted as he sat down in one of the chairs. Rose suddenly got a sly idea and sort of slinked toward Ray. She straddled him in the chair and after the blush died down on his face, he put his hands on her back.

"And what, may I ask, was I doing in this dream?"

"I, uh, I'd rather not talk about it, if it's all the same to you."

Rose shrugged and said, "Fine by me." She leaned forward and kissed Ray. The kiss quickly got deeper and more passionate. Rose ran her hands through Ray's dark hair and Ray held her as close as he possibly could. Ray's fingers slipped under her shirt but all he did was hold her waist.

_He's such a gentleman_, Rose thought with a smile. Rose was running out of oxygen, but she didn't want to break the kiss. It was so perfect and it was the most passionate they had gotten so far. But eventually, they had to pull away from one another so that they could breathe.

Neither of them saw Peter standing there in the doorway until he yelled, "**WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!**"

Ray and Rose jumped but somehow she was able to remain straddling him in the wooden chair. "Shit," Rose heard Ray whisper.

Rose carefully got up and Ray stood up after her. They felt as though they had been caught by the principal or something. And Rose didn't like that. She raised her head and stared at Peter defiantly, but found it difficult; he was furious. He was shaking and his face had gone very white.

"**WELL, EXPLAIN! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING, MAKING OUT WITH MY SISTER!**" Peter yelled at Ray. Rose stepped in between them as Ray tried to explain to Peter what had been going on.

But how could he? How could he tell Peter, his best friend of over seven years, that he had been secretly seeing his little sister, behind his back? How could Ray tell him that he had been lying to Peter for just about a month now? How could he explain that they were in love?

Truth was, he couldn't. But Rose could.

"We were kissing, Peter, because we're together," Rose told him. It was confession time. There was no way that they could hide it anymore. And honestly, Rose wasn't sure she wanted to, anyway. Peter was her brother and whether he liked it or not, he would have to deal with the fact that she and Ray were in love.

"**What do you mean, you're together?! You've been screwing behind my back? How long have you been lying to me? How long have you been screwing my little sister, RAY?**" Peter demanded.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE, PETER! He hasn't done anything! And this is exactly why we didn't tell you! Because we knew you'd react like this," Rose said, still standing in front of Ray, trying to protect him.

"How long?" Peter asked. "How long has this been going on?"

"About a month or so. We've never slept together, Peter, I swear," Ray replied. Peter's face dissolved into rage again and he yelled, "**A MONTH?**"

"Yes, Peter, a month," Rose said, trying to stay calm.

Peter shook his head and said, "No…no…absolutely not. No, I forbid it. Rose, I forbid you from seeing him. No way is this happening."

Now Rose was furious. "You forbid me? You **forbid** me? You don't have the right to forbid me to do anything, Peter! I am a grown woman and it is no business of yours who I date, or…or sleep with, or whatever! It's none of your business!"

Peter just kept shaking his head. "No. I won't let this happen. You are not allowed to be with him."

"Oh really? I like to see you try and stop us. You aren't going to be able to, Peter!"

"**AND WHY THE HELL NOT?**" Peter roared.

"BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM!" Rose thundered. She hadn't meant to say it, but it was the truth. Ray looked shocked, but very pleased.

"What?" Peter asked weakly. Rose nodded and said, "You heard me, Peter. I'm in love with him. And I know Ray loves me."

Ray nodded and said, "Yes, Peter. I love her – I'm in love with her, too. I'm sorry, but you can't stop this."

"I don't approve."

"I don't care," Rose said. Peter walked up to Rose and Ray and looked right at Ray. "If you hurt her…Ray, if you hurt her…there will be no place you can hide. Understand?"

Ray nodded and said, "I would never –"

"And the same goes for you, missy. You hurt him…there will be hell to pay," Peter interrupted. Rose looked him in the eye and said, "I know, Peter. But I won't hurt him. And he won't hurt me."

"I still don't approve. I don't like it and I do **NOT** approve."

"And I still don't care, Peter," Rose said. "I love him."

Peter glared at the pair of them once before turning and stalking out of the kitchen. Rose looked at Ray and they both breathed a sigh of relief. At least now there didn't need to be anymore secrets. Rose just reached for Ray's hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Ray looked down at their hands and smiled. He squeezed her hand and said, "I meant it, you know. I really am in love with you."

"I know. I meant it as well, Ray. I'm truly in love with you."

"I know."

* * *

**Whoa, Nellie. So Peter found out. And Ray and Rose have admitted that they are in love with one another. Well, that we already knew, but boy, Peter ain't happy about it. Please leave a review!**


	15. Chapter 14

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 14**

Peter was absolutely furious. It was a quiet sort of fury. He wasn't yelling at Rose and Ray anymore, at least. He wasn't speaking to either of them at the moment. The only one he was speaking to was Egon, and Peter was pretty childish about the whole "silent treatment". He took the 'daughter not speaking to her father' route.

It mainly only happened when they were eating dinner. Sometimes it happened while they were on a job, but Peter liked to keep a mostly professional manner on the jobs. But still, it happened. It would usually happen like this: Peter needed something that was closest to Ray or Rose. He would then ask Egon to ask Ray or Rose to give Peter what is was he needed.

So it would sound like this: "Egon, can you ask Rose for the salt?" Egon would then look at Peter like he wanted to throttle him and then Rose would hand Egon the salt and he would give it to Peter. All of them were severely annoyed with Peter, but Rose and Ray couldn't say anything about it. Peter would claim they had no right to be angry with him because it was they who betrayed him. Of course, he would claim this while looking in any direction but theirs.

Rose was angry with Peter for acting like a child, but she was also very hurt. Peter was her brother and she wanted him to be okay with this. But she knew it wasn't going to happen overnight. He would just have to get used to the idea of Ray and Rose being together, especially considering neither of them had any intention of letting the other go any time soon.

Ray, on his part, was sad. He was tired almost all the time, but he was also really sad. Rose tried to cheer him up as best as she could, but Peter was his best friend. And right now, he hated Ray. Okay, maybe 'hated' was a strong word, but Peter really, really didn't like Ray right now.

Beyond the 'silent treatment', Peter also occasionally made snide remarks about Ray and Rose. Sometimes he would just mutter to himself, but most of the times, if Ray would complain about being tired, Peter would comment about their relationship, which usually had something to do with Ray and Rose sleeping together, which they still hadn't done. It wasn't that they didn't want to sleep with each other; it had more to do with the fact that there simply hadn't been time, and Rose wasn't sure she was ready, and Ray wasn't sure he was either. They both wanted to take the relationship slowly, carefully. They didn't want to rush into anything and then regret it later.

Luckily, Rose had something to distract her from Peter's anger; they were now putting want ads in the papers, hoping that some brave soul would step up and become the new Ghostbuster. And that brave soul came in the form of Winston Zeddemore.

The day he came in for his interview with Janine and Rose, Rose immediately liked him. He was a nice guy, seemed to be hardworking, but beyond that, there was something that Rose could feel about him. Some people might like to call it his aura (you could call it whatever you like), but there was something good about Winston.

Besides all that, he was funny. And Rose loved a good sense of humor. Rose let Janine conduct the interview. She was only here to get a feel for Winston.

"Do you believe in," Janine started, "UFOs, astral projection, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trans-mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?"

Rose barely had time to marvel at the fact that Janine had said that all in one breath before Winston blinked and said, "If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

Rose smiled just as Ray and Peter walked in, looking extremely exhausted. Of course, along with Peter's exhaustion was anger, but that wasn't anything new. And Ray looked too tired to care anymore.

"Boy, I gotta get some sleep. I'm dying," Ray said. Peter looked at him and said, "You don't look good."

"I don't?" Ray said, looking both worried and happy that Peter was talking directly to him.

"You've looked better. You didn't used to look like this," Peter said. As he walked over to Janine and Rose, he muttered, "You also didn't used to screw my sister."

Rose resisted the urge to slap her brother as he gave Janine a paper. "Here's the paper for the woman out in Brooklyn. She paid with Visa."

"Here's tonight's worksheet," Janine replied, handing it to Ray, who had just greeted Rose with a kiss, much to Peter's annoyance. "Oh, great, two more free repeaters!" Ray said, giving Rose another kiss.

"Do you really have to do that in front of me?" Peter asked angrily. Rose stiffened her back and turned to her brother.

"Peter Venkman, I don't care if you're my brother, the President, or the bloody Queen of England, I am not going to stop kissing or being with Ray, my _boyfriend_, just because you can't grow the hell up and deal with it!"

Peter fumed and Winston, poor Winston, looked very awkward. Rose shook her head and said, "This is Winston Zeddemore, he's here about the job."

Ray looked immensely relieved. "Beautiful, you're hired," he said. Winston smiled and Ray said, "Ray Stantz, Pete Venkman. You already know Rose and Janine. I'm sure Egon's around here somewhere. Congratulations. Can you help me, please?"

Winston nodded uncertainly but went over to Ray, anyway, who handed him a couple traps. "Welcome aboard!" Rose said happily.

* * *

Hiring Winston wasn't the only good fortune the Ghostbusters had as of late. They were finally making progress on Dana Barrett's case.

As it turned out, Zuul, which was the name that the creature Dana saw inside her fridge said, was a demi-god that was worshipped around 6000 BC by the Hittites, the Mesopotamians, and the Sumerians. Zuul was the minion of Gozer, who was a really important figure in Sumeria.

What Zuul was doing in Dana's fridge was as of yet unknown.

Someone had to tell Dana about their findings, and to the surprise of no one, Peter immediately jumped at the opportunity. Rose would have laughed if she wasn't at odds with her brother at the moment.

Peter, jokingly, had looked at Rose before he left and said, "Wish me luck!" He almost did it unconsciously because it was the sort of thing he would say to Rose normally.

Had they been in different circumstances, Rose probably would have played along and wished him luck. But now, she just held a blank expression and said, "No," before walking away.

Because she had already turned around, she missed the hurt expression on her brother's face. She also missed the way his shoulders slumped as he walked out of the firehouse. Peter was really starting to miss Rose and Ray. Ray wasn't really angry with him, but they still weren't on good terms. Rose, however, was furious with him.

Peter couldn't really blame her; he had perhaps overreacted when he tried to forbid Rose from being with Ray, but he didn't think that he was entirely at fault here either. They had lied to him! His best friend and his sister lied to him right to his face!

That was what hurt the most. If they had just told him about it, instead of lying, he would have been okay with it. It was the lying part that got him. Alright, so maybe he wouldn't have been entirely okay with it, but he would have been happy for his sister and his best friend. They were happy. Rose really loved Ray and he really loved her, Peter could see that.

As he waited for Dana to show up, Peter wondered if he should just try to be okay with their relationship. Or just let go of the anger he felt whenever he thought about how they had deceived him and lied to him.

_They shouldn't have had to do that_, Peter thought, both angry and hurt.

_**But**_, said another part of his mind, _**they only lied because they knew how you would react. Or they thought they did, anyway. It's not like you inspired a lot of confidence in them. Remember how you flipped out when Rose JOKED that she and Ray were going to elope? How can you blame them for wanting to keep their relationship from you when you never gave them any reason to think that you wouldn't flip your lid if they told you?**_

_It isn't the relationship that has me so angry_, Peter told the little voice in his head. _It's the fact that they lied to me about it. _

_**So maybe you should tell them that.**_

_Maybe I should. I really miss my sister…I miss Rose. And I miss Ray. He's my best friend. _

And with that in mind, he came out of his thoughts in time to see Dana walking over to him.

"Dr. Venkman, this is a surprise," Dana said.

_Oh, lady, if you only knew the surprises I've dealt with recently… _Peter thought.

"That was a wonderful rehearsal…"

* * *

**So, I know the ending was kind of abrupt, but I really didn't feel like including the conversation Peter had with Dana, where he finally got her to go out with him. This story isn't about Peter and Dana anyway.**

**So, anyway, we now know the root of Peter's anger. Now, there's only one thing left. Making up with Rose and Ray. I'm not sure how that should go just yet. What do you think? Should they forgive Peter or should the fight continue for a while longer? Tell me what you think in the reviews!**


	16. Chapter 15

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 15**

By the time Peter got back, Ray was showing Winston the ghost-catching equipment downstairs and Rose was helping Janine finish up some paperwork. Ever since the Ghostbusters took off, the poor woman had been up to her eyeballs in papers.

During the time Peter had been gone, a man came waltzing into the firehouse and demanded to see Peter.

"He isn't here right now," Rose said. "Who are you?"

"Are you Rose Venkman?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Rose stood up and, not liking this guy's attitude, said, "No. Nope. I'm, uh, I'm actually the Ghost of Christmas Past. They caught me a while ago trying to pull another Scrooge. Worked a lot better in Victorian London than it does here, I can tell you that."

"You're a ghost? You seem to be completely physical…" the man said, looking very suspicious. Janine was trying not to laugh, which probably added to the man's suspicion. He narrowed his eyes again and repeated, "Are you Rose Venkman?"

"Yeah, I am. I was just messing with you. I don't really like people barging into our property and demanding to see someone. You know, it's just plain rude. Now who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Walter Peck, I'm represent the Environmental Protection Agency, third district. I'm here to speak with Peter Venkman."

"The EPA? What do you want with Peter?" Rose asked. Regardless of how she felt about her brother right now, she still didn't like this Peck guy and she was still protective of Peter, even if he was the older sibling.

"It's really none of your concern, is it, Ms. Venkman?" Peck answered nastily. Rose squared her shoulders and said, "Look, buddy, when it's my brother you want to talk to, and my boys and Janine that you're a threat to, no matter how tiny a threat you may be, it is my concern. Now, for the last time, _what do you want with Peter_?"

Peck only smirked. "Well, really, it is both of you Venkmans. But I need both of you here. When will your brother be back?"

Rose tried very hard not to beat this jerk to a bloody pulp. "Go wait in his office," Rose said, hooking a thumb behind her. "And don't touch anything, Peck! Peter and I will be in there when he gets back."

Peck walked off to Peter's office and literally five minutes later, Peter walked in. He walked up to Janine's desk and she said, "There's a man from the EPA here to see you and Rose. He's waiting in your office."

"EPA? What does he want?" Peter asked, looking confused.

"I don't know. All I do know is that I've been working two weeks without a break and you promised me you'd hire more help. Only Rose is nice enough to try and help me!"

Peter looked at her and said, "Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries. You gonna answer that?"

Janine's phone had started to ring and Rose wasn't able to take it, as she had to go talk to this Peck guy. As she and Peter walked away, Janine said, "I've quit better jobs than this."

She answered the phone and said, "Ghostbusters, what do you want?!"

Rose laughed at Janine goodheartedly, but stopped laughing the minute she entered Peter's office. She really didn't like this Walter Peck guy.

"Can I help you?" Peter asked. Peck sort of smiled, although to Rose, it was extremely off-putting. "I'm Walter Peck. I represent the Environmental Protection Agency, the third district."

"Great! How's it going down there?" Peter replied, slapping Peck on the back.

"Are you Peter Venkman?" Peck asked. Peter looked at him and said, "Yes, I'm Dr. Venkman."

"Exactly what are you a doctor of, Mr. Venkman?" Peck asked.

"Well, I have PhD's in Parapsychology and Psychology."

"I see. And what about you, Ms. Venkman? Do you have any PhD's?"

"No, but I have my Master's degrees in both Parapsychology and Occult Studies."

"I see…and now you catch ghosts?" Peck said. Peter nodded and said, "Yeah, you could say that."

"How many ghosts have you caught?" Peck asked. Rose stepped in and said, "We're not at liberty to say."

"And where do you put the ghosts, once you catch them?"

"In a storage facility," Peter told him. Peck nodded and said, "And would this…storage facility be located on these premises?"

"Yes," Rose said.

"And may I see this storage facility?"

"No," Peter told him.

"And why not, Mr. Venkman?" Peck asked.

"Because you didn't use the magic word," Peter said. Rose knew that Peter was only messing with Peck now, but she didn't feel the need or the obligation to make Peck privy to this information.

"What is the magic word, Mr. Venkman?"

"Please!" Peter replied, looking surprised.

"May I please see this storage facility?"

"Why do you want to see the storage facility?" Peter asked him, looking serious now.

"Well," Peck said, "because I'm curious. I want to know more about what you do here. Frankly, there have been a lot of wild stories in the media and we want to assess for any possible environmental impact from your operation! For instance, the presence of noxious, possibly hazardous waste chemicals in your basement! Now either you show me what is down there or I come back with a court order!"

That was it. Rose had had it. "Now, look, Peck. You come in here, on our property and demand to see our storage facilities, accusing us of abusing the environment? I don't think so! What proof do you have of that?"

"I'm not at liberty to say. Now, like I said, either you show me the storage facility or I come back here with a court order!"

"You go get a court order! And I'll sue your ass for wrongful prosecution!" Peter shouted.

"You can have it your way, Mr. Venkman," Peck said.

"It's DR. VENKMAN, Peck! Get it; _Doctor_! Now get out of here!" Rose shouted at him as he left. She shook her head stormed out of Peter's office before Peter could even say a single word to her.

_Seems like my plan to talk it through with Ray and Rose is gonna have to wait. I didn't really wanna forgive them anyway, _Peter thought.

Rose, on her part, went downstairs where Egon, Ray, and Winston were crowded around the ecto-containment unit.

"I'm worried, Ray," Egon said. Rose went over to Ray, who was smoking a cigarette and Egon continued, "It's getting crowded in there. And all my recent data points to something big on the horizon."

"That doesn't sound good," Rose said. She had now taken a seat on Ray's lap, which she was happy to note, didn't bother Egon and Winston at all.

"What do you mean, 'big'?" Winston asked, looking worried. He also was lighting up a cigarette. Rose waved the smoke away, but said nothing. She had gotten used to Ray's smoking. It didn't really bother her so much anymore.

"Well," Egon said, picking up a Twinkie. "Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of Psychokinetic Energy in the New York area. According to this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie…35 feet long, weighing approximately 600 pounds."

Ray choked in shock and Winston widened his eyes. "That's a big Twinkie," he said as Rose patted Ray on the back. Egon nodded and ate the Twinkie he was holding.

The basement door opened just as Ray said, "We could be on the verge of a fourfold cross-rip! A PKE surge of incredible, even dangerous proportions!"

Peter walked downstairs, frowned momentarily at the sight of Rose sitting on Ray's lap and then said, "We just had a visit from the Environmental Protection Agency. How's the grid holding up?" Peter walked over to the ecto-containment unit.

"Not good," Egon replied. Winston looked down and said, "Tell him about the Twinkie."

Peter looked at them very seriously and said, "What about the Twinkie?"

* * *

After that, Peter had to go get ready, because he had a date with none other than Dana Barrett. Rose, on the inside, was very happy for Peter. There was something about Dana that Rose liked, and she just had a feeling that Peter and Dana were supposed to be together.

About five minutes after Peter left, Ray had a brain surge.

"Egon! You said something big was on the horizon?"

"Yes," Egon replied, eating another Twinkie.

"And Dana Barrett apparently has Zuul, a Sumerian Demi-god, in her refrigerator?"

"Yeah," Rose said, catching on. "Oh my god! She lives in the Ivo Shandor building, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does," Egon said. Rose nodded and said, "I remember reading something about Shandor somewhere…he was one really messed up dude. Jesus, what did he do…? Where did I read it…? Think, Rose, think!

And then Egon's words came back to her: _The usual literature…Tobin's Spirit Guide…_

"THAT'S IT!" The three guys jumped at her outburst. "Egon," she said," go look up Ivo Shandor in Tobin's Spirit Guide. Ray, Winston, you come with me. We need to take another look at the building's blueprints. I think something extraordinarily bad is happening….and Peter is right in the middle of it, damn it!"

Egon almost vanished instantaneously when Rose told him what to do and she dragged Ray and Winston off with her, calling, "We'll see you later, Egon!"

She got no answer but she wasn't concerned with it right now. Because right now, at this moment, Peter needed her. He was going to the Ivo Shandor building right now. If Peter got hurt because of this Zuul, she was going obliterate that stupid demi-god. No one got to screw with her boys and NO ONE sure as hell got to screw with Peter. Not while she was around.

The three of them jumped into the Ecto-1 and blasted down to the Hall of Records. Rose would never be able to tell you how long it took them to get the Ivo Shandor blueprints, but it felt like it was only seconds before they were back into the Ecto-1 and driving along. Rose was in the back seat, Winston was driving and Ray was in shotgun. Rose and Ray were busy studying the blueprints, trying to figure out if there was something paranormal about them

"Hey, Rose, Ray. Do you believe in God?" Winston asked.

"No," Rose said. And it was true. She was an atheist.

"Never met him," Ray replied, a little distracted.

"Yeah, well I do," Winston said. "And I love Jesus' style, you know."

"Ray look at the roof cap…" Rose said, pointing to it.

"Yeah, it's made of a magnesium-tungsten alloy…" he said quietly.

"What are you so involved in there?" Winston asked them. Rose looked up and said, "These are the blueprints for the structural ironwork in Dana's apartment building."

"And they're very, very strange," Ray said. Winston nodded and said, "Hey, Ray, do you remember something in the Bible about the last days, when the dead would rise from the grave?"

Ray looked up from the blueprints and said, "I remember Revelations 7:12. And as I looked, as he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as black as sackcloth. And the moon became as blood."

"And the seas boiled and the skies fell," Winston finished. Rose was staring at the both of them.

"Religion is weird. And scary. Isn't that Judgment Day?"

Ray nodded and said, "Judgment Day."

"Judgment Day," Winston repeated. Ray shook his head and said, "Every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world."

Rose nodded and said, "This is true."

"Myth?" Winston said. "Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we've been so busy lately is because the dead HAVE been rising from the grave?"

They all fell silent for a few seconds and Ray shuddered and said, "How about a little music?"

"Yeah," Rose and Winston said. Ray turned on the radio and 'We're Not Gonna Take It' by Twisted Sister came on.

"Huh, good song for what we're possibly about to go up against," Rose commented and started singing along to the song.

"_We'll fight the powers that be just_

_Don't choose our destiny cause_

_You don't know us, you don't belong…"_

Ray smiled at her and said, "You're right it is."

And then somehow, they were all rocking out in the Ecto-1 to Twisted Sister. But after the song ended, they realized how much danger Zuul and Gozer could pose.

They all could very well die, if they had to go up against Gozer.

_Well_, Rose thought. _If I die tonight, at least I won't have died without knowing what it was like to __**really**__ be in love_.

* * *

**Okay, guys. The battle with Gozer is looming nearer and nearer. I know I left out a lot, what with Louis becoming Vinz Clortho and the police bringing Vinz to the Ghostbusters HQ and everything with Walter Peck basically blowing up the HQ, but I wanted to focus solely on Rose and Ray for the most part.**


	17. Chapter 16

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 16**

When they got back to Ghostbusters HQ, they were shocked at the sight before them. The firehouse was ruined. There was debris everywhere. It looked like an explosion went off.

Rose stumbled out of the Ecto-1 and she almost ran over to Egon and Peter. She nearly leapt on Egon when she saw him. Regardless of how uncomfortable a hug might make him, Rose was just too happy Egon was safe to care right now.

"Oh my god, Egon, Peter, are you two alright?" Rose asked. Ray came up behind her and stared up in amazement at the damage surrounding them.

"Yeah, we're fine Rose," Egon said. He hadn't been all that uncomfortable when she hugged him, which surprised everyone. Rose guessed he was coming out of his shell a little. This made her happy, because Egon was like a second brother to her.

"What…? What happened?" Ray asked.

"The storage facilities blew," Egon said. He pointed at Peck, who Rose just noticed, and said, "He shut off the protection grid."

Rose fumed and said to Egon, "Can I kill him? Violently?"

"Be my guest," Egon replied.

"Oh, great," Ray moaned. Winston looked worried and said, "That's bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ray said. Rose nodded and added, "That's _very_ bad, Winston."

Just then, Peter looked around and said, "Where's the Keymaster?"

"Who?!" Rose shouted just as Egon said, quite loudly, "SHIT!"

Rose had never really heard Egon swear before, and had to say, she actually kinda liked it. Well, she wasn't driven wild by it (Ray swearing on the other hand…that was a different story), but it made quite a change from his stoic and serious demeanor.

"Who's the Keymaster?" Ray asked. He seemed just as confused as Rose was.

"Come on!" Egon exclaimed. The five of them ran away from the scene as fast as they could, but they were stopped by Walter Peck and a bunch of police officers.

"Hold it!" he yelled at them. Rose had had it with this bug.

"**WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU RIGHT NOW, PECKER! NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR WAY!**" she screamed at him. Ray and Egon actually grabbed onto Rose's upper arms to make sure she didn't lunge at Peck.

"I want this man arrested," Peck said, looking at Egon. The five of them were shaking with rage and Peck smirked. "Captain," he said, "these people are in criminal violation of the Environmental Protection Act and this explosion is a direct result of it!"

Both Rose and Egon lunged for Peck, but Egon yelled, "**YOUR MOTHER!**" at him. Rose laughed as the five of them all got into a scuffle with Peck and the police officers. Rose actually managed to get a few hard punches in at Peck, and by the time the officers pulled them away, Peck was bleeding and bruised.

Five different police officers dragged each of them away and put them in different cop cars. "Take the girl to the women's facility," the Captain said.

"NO!" Ray and Rose shouted. They would not be separated. Not now. Rose spoke up and said, "Please, Captain, I want to go with Ray and the others."

"It's not up to me, Ms. Venkman. It's safety protocol."

"You'll have to drag me away from Ray in a straightjacket and handcuffs. I won't leave my boys. Ever. And I'm going with them."

The Captain narrowed his eyes at her, but then said, "Well, if it's one thing I value, its determination and loyalty. Go with them. You can take care of yourself. Mr. Peck is a testament to that."

Rose glanced over at the profusely bleeding Peck and smirked. She turned back to the Captain and said, "Thank you."

* * *

"Hey Guard!" Winston yelled from inside the holding cell. "I want to make a phone call! I just work with these guys! I wasn't even there! Ray and Rose weren't either!"

"Give it up, Winston. It won't work," Rose said over from where she, Ray, and Egon were looking over the blueprints once more.

"The structure of this roof cap is exactly like the kind of telemetry tracker that NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space," Egon told them, pointing to the item on the blueprint.

"Seriously?" Rose said, taking a closer look at it. "Holy crap, you're right."

"Of course, I'm right," Egon smirked. She shoved his shoulder playfully and Ray said, "Cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium."

Peter looked around at the other jailbirds, most of whom made Rose very nervous, and said, "Everyone getting this so far? So what? I guess they just don't make 'em like they used to."

"No!" Ray and Rose shouted at him. Ray continued, "Nobody ever made them like this! The architect was either a certified genius or an aesthetic wacko!"

"I'm gonna go with the wacko idea," Rose said. Peter blinked and said, "Ray, for a moment, pretend that I don't know anything about metallurgy, engineering, or physics and just tell me what the hell is going on!"

"You never studied," Ray deadpanned. "The whole building is a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence. Your girlfriend, Peter, lives in the corner penthouse of Spook Central."

"Poor Dana," Rose commented.

"She's not my girlfriend. I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers…."

They looked at him strangely and Peter continued, "…four feet above her covers! She barks, she drools, she claws…"

"It's not the girl, Peter, it's the building!" Egon interrupted him. "Something terrible is about to enter our world and this building is obviously the door. The architect is Ivo Shandor. I found it in Tobin's Spirit Guide –"

"- Right where I said you would find it!" Rose said. Egon nodded and said, "Yeah, thanks, Rose. He was also a doctor; performed a lot of unnecessary surgery." For some reason, Egon looked intrigued and excited by this. Rose shrugged and thought, _that's Egon for you_.

"Then, in 1920, he started a secret society."

"Let me guess," Peter said. "Gozer worshippers."

"Right in one, Peter," Rose said. "Now I remember what Shandor did. He was a real head case."

Egon nodded and Peter looked at Ray triumphantly. "No studying…"

"After the first World War," Egon continued, "Shandor decided that society was too sick to survive." Egon paused when he noticed that some of the jailbirds were looking interested and started to move in. Rose moved closer to Ray and he put an arm around her waist.

"That your girl?" one of the jailbirds asked. Ray nodded and the jailbird said, "What a lucky guy."

"Yeah, I know."

Egon smiled and continued. "And he wasn't alone; he had close to a thousand followers when he died. They conducted rituals on the roof, bizarre rituals intended to bring about the end of the world, and now it looks like it may **actually** **happen**!" Egon finished as he stood up to make his point.

Rose swallowed nervously and jumped when Peter burst out into song. "_So be good, for goodness sake! Whoaaa, somebody's coming!_"

Ray shook his head and said, "We have to get out of here. We gotta find a judge or something." Rose followed after Ray as he dashed off but Winston stopped them by saying, "Hey, hey, hold it! Now we're going to actually go before a federal judge and say that some moldy old Babylonian god is going to drop in on Central Park West and start tearing up the city?"

"Sumerian, not Babylonian," Ray told Winston. Peter rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, big difference!" Rose smacked his arm, both for being a jackass and for scaring her before with his impromptu singing. He rubbed his arm, looking hurt, but said nothing.

"No offense, guys," Winston said, "but I gotta get my own lawyer."

Just then, a jail guard walked up to the Ghostbusters and said, "The mayor wants to see you guys. The whole island's going crazy! Let's go."


	18. Chapter 17

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT, I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**Chapter 17**

_The mayor wants to see us?_ Rose thought. _Why?_

When they made it to the mayor's office, the police escorted them inside and there were reporters and photographers everywhere. The camera lights were flashing, blinding Rose and making her very nervous.

Her heart was thudding a violent tattoo against her ribcage. She never really liked being the center of attention, but then, she considered with a laugh, she should have thought of that before she became a Ghostbuster.

But then, as she reached out for Ray's hand and took hold of it, she realized she didn't care how nervous she got; if she hadn't joined the Ghostbusters, she might never have fallen in love with Ray. And that was unimaginable to her now. Every time she thought about the future, Rose saw Ray with her, by her side, always.

Forever. They had only been together for a month and a half, but she had known him and loved him for much longer than that. Rose was utterly in love with Ray and she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.

This she knew for a fact.

"STAY BACK!" The shouts of the police officers brought her back to Earth and out of her thoughts. Egon, who she trusted more than anyone, looked down at her and said, "Are you alright, Rose?"

Rose smiled up at Egon and then looked down at her and Ray's joined hands. Looking back at Egon, she said, "Yeah. I'm perfect."

When they got inside the Mayor's office, the Mayor was shouting at the numerous people he had in his office. One of his aides went up to him and said, "The Ghostbusters are here, Mr. Mayor."

"The Ghostbusters, okay, the Ghostbusters - hey, where's this Peck?"

Rose growled and nearly lunged at Peck again when he pushed past Peter and Ray, but Ray tightened his hold on her hand and she calmed down. The idiot known as Walter Peck stepped forward and said, "I am Walter Peck, sir, and I'm prepared to make a full report. These _people_ are consummate snowball artists! They use sensitive nerve gases to induce hallucinations. People think they're seeing ghosts! And they call these bozos, who conveniently show up to deal with the problem with a fake electronic light show!"

Rose let go of Ray's hand and raised her fist at Peck. "You are asking for it, jackass! Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but this man has been harassing us because we wouldn't show him our storage facilities for the actual ghosts we catch!"

"Why wouldn't you show it to him?" the Mayor asked. Rose turned to face him and said, "Because, sir, our facilities were working fine. He had no proof that we were harboring any 'potentially noxious gases' at all!"

"Is this true?" the Mayor asked them all. Ray stepped forward and said, "Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here."

Peck glared at Ray, who looked back defiantly. Rose laughed along with Peter and Peck stated, "They caused an explosion!"

Rose brandished her fist again and said, "Excuse me, no we didn't. _You_ are the one who shut off our system! _You_ caused the explosion. And Ray is right. You are dickless."

Peck growled and the Mayor said, in reference to Peck's previous statement, "Is this true?"

"Yes, it's true," Peter said. They all looked at him and he said, "This man has no dick."

Rose laughed and Winston rolled his eyes. Peck lunged for Peter again and in an instant, Rose and Ray were between the two and pushed Peck away.

"Well, that's what I heard!" Peter exclaimed. Rose pushed Peck roughly and said, "I'm warning you Peck! Go after my brother, or my boyfriend, or my friends again, and I will shove my foot so far up your ass, I will knock your damn teeth out! Understand me?!"

"Miss," a police officer said, "I need to ask you to calm down, or I will have to escort you from the building."

Rose nodded and stepped away from Peck. The Mayor was looking rather frustrated and said, "This is City Hall! Now what am I gonna do here, John? What is this?"

The Fire Commissioner stepped forward and said, "All I know is, that was no light show we saw this morning. I've seen every combustion known to man, but this beats the hell out of me."

The Police Commissioner spoke up and said, "The walls in the 53rd precinct were bleeding. How do you explain that?"

Peck was looking very irritated and Rose tried very hard to ignore him. But then the Archbishop walked in. "Good afternoon, gentlemen, Miss," he said, noticing Rose. She nodded to him with a smile and the Mayor said, "Oh, your Eminence!"

The Mayor stooped and kissed the Archbishop's ring. "How are you Lenny?" the Archbishop said.

"You're looking good, Mike," the Mayor said, standing up. "We're in a real fix here. What do you think I should do?"

The Archbishop said, "Lenny, officially, the Church will not take any position on the religious implications of these phenomena. " Egon raised his eyebrows slightly and Rose tried not to laugh at his expression, or lack thereof. For once, she succeeded.

"Personally, Lenny, I think it's a sign from God. But don't quote me on that."

"I think that's a smart move, Mike," the Mayor said as he sat behind his desk. "But I'm not gonna call a press conference and tell everyone to start praying."

Winston stepped forward and said, "I'm Winston Zeddemore, Your Honor. Look, I've only been with the company for a couple weeks. But I gotta tell you, these things are real. Since I joined these men and lady, I've seen shit that'll turn you white!"

Rose laughed silently at Winston's remark. _Only Winston..._

"Well," Peter said, "you could believe Mr. Pecker..."

Peck leaned forward angrily and said, "My name is Peck!"

"Nobody cares, dude. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no one cares what your name is...Pecker," Rose told him, with a smirk. He glared at Rose but said nothing, thankfully.

Peter looked at Peck and then Rose and said, "...Or, you could face the fact that this city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions."

"What do mean, 'biblical'?" the Mayor asked, very confused. Ray and Rose stepped forward and Ray said, "What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor."

"Yes," Peter said and Rose continued Ray's thought and said, "Real 'wrath-of-God' type stuff. Fire and Brimstone coming down from the skies!"

"Rivers and seas boiling!" Ray added. Not to be left out, Egon said, rather dramatically, "Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!"

"The dead rising from the grave!" Winston added and Peter chimed in with, "Human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together! MASS HYSTERIA!"

"Enough!" the Mayor exclaimed. "I get the point! But what if you're wrong?"

"If we're wrong...nothing happens," Rose said. "We'll go to jail. Peacefully, quietly; we'll enjoy it! Well, maybe not enjoy it, but we'll go quietly enough. But if we're right and we can stop this thing...then you, Lenny, you will have saved the lives...of millions of registered voters."

At this Lenny smiled slightly and Peter patted Rose's shoulder discreetly. She still wasn't very happy with her brother, but in light of the current events, she was trying to forgive him little by little. Rose felt her anger rise right up again when Peck appeared behind Peter and said, "I can't believe you're actually considering listening to these people...especially _her._"

Rose turned around and said, "You got something to say, Pecker, you say it to my face!" Peter smirked at Peck as the Mayor pointed at Peck and said, "Get him out of here."

"Bye," Peter said, smiling. Ray had his hands on his hips and was grinning happily when Peck said, "I'll fix you, Venkman. I'm gonna fix you. Both of you!"

Rose waved her hand as a dismissal and said, "Tell it to someone who cares, Pecker."

"I'm gonna send you a nice fruit basket," Peter said. When Peck was gone, he said, "I'm gonna miss him."

The Mayor nodded and said, "Okay, you got work to do. Now...what do you need from me?"

Rose laughed and said, "You really should not have said that, Mr. Mayor." She watched as the Mayor's expression became nervous when he saw the evil smiles that had formed on Ray, Peter, Egon, and Winston's faces.

"Well, we could use a police escort...maybe some military guys..." Peter started. Rose only rolled her eyes and leant back against Ray, who wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She smiled up at him and said, "You ready?"

"Oh yeah," he said.

* * *

Rose laughed maniacally as she watched all the military guys and tanks move along the streets of New York City. She and the others were in the Ecto-1, protected by the police escort that the boys requested.

"This is so _cool_!" Rose exclaimed. Ray put an arm around her and pulled her close with a smile. Rose smiled and leaned her head against Ray's shoulder but jumped slightly when Peter yelled out the window, "COME ON, LET'S RUN SOME RED LIGHTS!"

Oddly enough, on Peter's command, the cars in front of them started moving and before they knew it, they were in front of the Ivo Shandor building.

As Rose stepped out of Ecto-1, she looked up at the Shandor building and her heart almost stopped when she saw the dark and ominous looking clouds that were gathering at the very top of the building.

_That must be where Shandor and his followers performed those 'bizarre rituals' that Egon talked about. The Temple of Zuul_, Rose thought. She took a deep breath and started suiting up with the boys. When Rose looked at Peter, she thought about just putting the whole argument behind them and trying to be like they were before. She missed her brother and she wanted their relationship to be what it used to be.

But then, she remembered how childish Peter had been behaving as of late and the hurt she felt over the argument came rushing back and she dismissed the thought of forgiving and forgetting.

_We'll have time for that later_, Rose told herself.

_**But what if you don't? What if he gets hurt tonight? What if he dies? **_this evil little voice in her head whispered.

"Stop it," she whispered to herself. "Stop it. He won't die. He can't. None of them will."

Luckily, no one heard her and she finished suiting up. Rose tried to put a happy face on for the crowd, and amazingly, she succeeded. The crowd was going nuts and they were cheering as loud as a group of humans possibly could.

"Hello, New York!" Peter shouted. "Well, hi, everyone!" He took Ray's hand and raised it high into the air. "Dr. Ray Stantz! Would you please? The heart of the Ghostbusters! Thank you! They love you. They love you here!"

The five of them started walking down the sidewalk and Rose took Ray's hand. One of the men in the crowd yelled out, "Rose! Rose! Will you go out with me?"

Rose smiled as Ray grumped and said, "Sorry, buddy. I'm taken." She held up her and Ray's intertwined hands and the man looked very disappointed. He shrugged and went back to cheering for the Ghostbusters.

"Oh, stop grumping, Ray. You know I'm yours," Rose told him, smiling up at him. Ray pressed a kiss to her temple and said, "Forever?"

"Forever and ever, baby," Rose replied. Ray grinned and said, "That's what I wanna hear."

"I like that shirt, pal!" Peter was saying to some guy in the crowd. "Gotta run. Got a date with a ghost!" Peter rejoined his fellow Ghostbusters and said, "All right, whatever happens...let's be professionals."

The five of them assembled in front of the building and they all looked up at the darkness above them. Lightning struck the building as Ray said, "We might have to put a little overtime in on this one!"

Rose barely had time to laugh at Ray's comment before the ground shook beneath them and broke open. They all fell down into the hole and Rose felt her hand slip from Ray's. Her heart literally stopped as her head came within inches of being crushed by the front end of a NYPD cruiser.

"Oh my god," Rose breathed out. If that car had come any closer, she would have been dead. Her breathing was very shallow as she edged out from under the car. She breathed out deeply and tried to calm her heat down. When she got out from under the car, she realized that she couldn't see any of her boys.

"Ray?! RAY! Peter? Egon! Someone answer me!" She got no reply back and the panic started to set in. What if they were dead? Ray...the love of her life...he couldn't be dead...not him. _Please not him_, she thought. She wanted to marry him. She wanted to have children with him. She wanted to grow old with him. He could **not** be dead.

And Peter...her brother...if he had died, he would have died thinking that she hated him. The thought broke her heart. Egon...her lovable awkward scientist with a really big sweet tooth. She adored Egon and if he was gone...she didn't know how she would cope. And Winston...sweet, friendly Winston. He was a great friend.

If any of them were dead, she didn't know what she would do. She called out to them again and tried to see through the dust floating around in the air.

"THERE THEY ARE!" Someone in the crowd shouted. Rose's heart stalled when she saw Ray pop out of the destruction hole in the ground.

"Rose?! Rose, where are you?" Rose stood up and ran to Ray. She nearly jumped on Ray when she could finally fully see him and hugged him as tight as she possibly could. "Oh god, Ray...I thought...I th-thought..."

"Rose, it's okay. I'm okay. We're all okay," Ray told her, looking down at her. His cheery face was covered with dust and Rose nearly burst out into tears. She stood on her tiptoes as much as she could with the proton pack on her back and kissed Ray soundly.

"I love you, Ray. I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Rose said. She didn't know what made her say it, but she knew it was the right moment. Ray grinned and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I love you too," Ray said. "And god, do I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you."

Rose laughed and grinned. But then a thought occurred to her. "Where's Egon? And Peter? Winston?"

"Hey, sweetheart, I'm right here," Winston said. Rose sighed in relief and hugged Winston. Then she heard Egon's voice: "That was an unfortunate side-effect of the paranormal- oof!" Rose nearly knocked the wind of Egon when she latched onto his side with a hug.

"You're all right. Oh, Egon, I thought you all were dead. I was nearly dead myself. A cop car almost crushed me," Rose said. She didn't even notice if Egon was uncomfortable or not. Evidently he wasn't because he hugged her right back. There was one problem - where the hell was Peter? Where was her brother?

Then she heard the one voice she hadn't heard yet. "What do you mean, you nearly got crushed by a cop car?"

"_**Peter!**_" She exclaimed and dashed away from Egon to her brother. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they both stumbled a bit. Luckily, they didn't fall down and Rose said, "Jesus, Peter. I thought you were dead. I-I..."

She leaned back from the hug and punched Peter hard in the shoulder. "**OW!**" Peter yelped. "What was that for?"

"Peter, you asshole, don't ever scare me like that again!" Rose yelled at him. Peter rubbed his shoulder but then smiled at Rose.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

Rose pulled him back into a tight hug and said, "Peter, I'm really sorry. This argument we've been having is so stupid. Can we just...put it behind us?"

Peter smiled and said, "Of course we can. I'm sorry, too. I guess I overreacted, huh?"

"Maybe a little."

"Well, you're my baby sister. What did you expect?" Rose grinned and shrugged. Peter said, "Listen, I really am okay with you and Ray. It wasn't the relationship that made me so upset, it was that you lied to me about it. You shouldn't have had to do that..."

"I know. I'm sorry. I promise from now on I'll tell you everything that happens between me and Ray." Rose was being cheeky and she knew it. Peter rolled his eyes and said, "Well, no, don't tell me **everything**... I might have to beat Ray up."

"Peter, don't you dare!" Rose said. Peter laughed and said, "I'm just kidding, Rose."

"I know." Rose let go of Peter and he moved to Ray. He held out his hand and said, "Ray? Friends?"

"The best!" Ray said, shaking Peter's hand and pulling him into a 'manly' hug. Peter smiled and embraced his friend.

"Now, listen, Ray, like I told you; you hurt her, I'm going to bury you in the front yard."

"I know, Pete. I know."

Rose laughed and Peter said, "All right, everyone, let's go kick this ghost's ass!"

They climbed out of the hole amidst much loud cheering and Peter said, "We're all right, it's all right, we can take it! You gotta learn to play rough! You wanna play rough?!"

"YEAH!" they cheered. And with that, they walked towards the building.

* * *

"I think I'm going to pass out."

Rose was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. They had been climbing flights of stairs ever since they entered the building. "Why didn't we take the elevator?"

"Because it's broken down," Peter told her. Rose nodded and whimpered as her legs burned just a little more.

"Where are we?" Peter asked. Ray looked around and said, "Oh it looks like we're in the teens somewhere."

Peter nodded and said, "Well, when we get to twenty, tell me. I'm gonna throw up."

Rose laughed and they kept trudging on. Finally, they reached floor 22.

"Twenty-two," Ray stated. He looked at Peter and said, "Is this it?"

"Yeah," Peter said. Egon looked around and said, "Art Deco, very nice."

Rose smiled at Egon and started walking forward. "Where is it?" she asked Peter. He pointed and said, "It's at the end of the hall."

Rose and Ray walked to the end of the hall and they came upon the remnants of Dana's apartment. One of the walls was completely missing and there was debris everywhere. It looked like a tornado ripped through there. Peter was looking rather devastated and Rose put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, where do these stairs go?" Ray asked. Peter's head whipped around and sure enough, there were a set of stairs. Peter smiled and said, "They go up."

The five of them walked up the stairs and Rose moaned, "Stairs...always stairs. I'm tired of them." Egon smirked at her and she nudged his arm.

They finally reached the roof and just as they saw Dana and some small guy which Rose assumed was 'The Keymaster', they both were struck by lightning and turned into terror dogs.

Rose gaped and Peter said, "Okay, so...she's a dog." Luckily, the dogs that had been Dana and the Keymaster didn't do anything as the Ghostbusters lined up in front of the Temple of Zuul.

Rose's eyes widened as a very tall, pale, ghostly looking creature stepped out to face them. She reached out and pet the terror dogs and Ray said, almost disbelievingly, "It's a girl."

Rose was too astonished and terrified to even think about the sexist connotation that comment had. Egon stared right at the creature and said, "It's Gozer."

"I thought Gozer was a man," Winston said. Rose put her hands on her hips and looked at Winston. He shrugged and Egon said, "It's whatever it wants to be."

Rose nodded and said, "See, Gozer has no gender." Winston nodded, a little embarrassed.

"Well, whatever it is," Peter announced, "it's gotta get by us!"

"Right!" Ray agreed. Peter smirked and said, "Go get her, Ray!" Ray's eyes went wide and his expression quickly became terrified. Rose stepped forward and took Ray's hand in hers. "Come on. We'll go together."

Ray and Rose stepped up and Ray looked right at Gozer and said, "Gozer the Gozerian!" Gozer turned around and growled at Ray quietly. Peter stood by, shifting from foot to foot. Rose gripped Ray's hand tighter and he said, "Good evening. As a duly designated representative of city, county and state of New York," he swallowed and continued, "I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension!"

Ray nodded when he finished and Rose tried to focus and not think about how sexy Ray looked with his 'professional/brave' face on and his hair blown back. _Focus, Rose, FOCUS!_

Rose thought his speech was very good, but doubted that Gozer, with her/his/it's red eyes and threatening demeanor, was going to listen.

Evidently, Peter felt almost the same way because he said, "That ought to do it, thanks very much, Ray!"

"Shut up, Peter!" Rose called. Gozer considered the people before her and the man who just spoke to Gozer.

"Are you a God?" Gozer asked Ray. Ray looked back at Peter, who nodded, and then turned back to Gozer. He shrugged and said, "No." Rose had to admire his honesty and humility. Most men would have gotten cocky and said yes.

But, unfortunately, Ray's answer gained him no brownie points in Gozer's book. Gozer raised its arms and said, "Then...DIE!"

Lightning struck all five of them and sent them flying across the building. They all struggled to stay on the building and Rose's head came into hard contact with stone. She blinked as little spots appeared before her eyes.

Once she was sure she was okay, she stood up as Winston said, "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say **YES**!"

Ray nodded and Peter said, "Okay this chick is **TOAST!**" The five of them marched back up to the temple and Peter said, "Got your stick?"

They all unhooked their proton guns and said in unison, "Holding!"

"Heat 'em up!" Peter shouted. They charged their guns and said, "Smoking!"

"Make 'em hard!" Peter shouted and they responded, "READY!"

Peter and Rose looked at one another and they said together, "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!"

They all blasted Gozer with the proton guns but it yowled and flipped across the temple. Peter shrugged and said, "Nimble little minx, isn't she?"

"Aim for the flattop!" Ray yelled. They blasted Gozer again and for some reason, it vanished.

"Well that's wasn't so hard," Peter said. Ray looked very excited and said, "We neutralized it! You know what that means? A complete particle reversal!"

Something inside Rose told her this wasn't right; it wasn't over.

"We have the **tools**, we have the **talent**!" Winston exclaimed. Peter raised his hand for high fives and said, "It's Miller time!"

Egon was looking at his PKE meter and motioned for Rose to join him. "Rose, this looks extraordinarily bad."

Just then, rocks crumbled everywhere and they missed everyone by only inches. "Look out!" Egon shouted and pulled Rose out of the way of one of the bigger ones.

"Thanks, Egon."

"No problem."

"Ray! Pete, Winston! You guys okay?" Rose called. She got three affirmatives answers back and her heart felt a little lighter. But then a boulder fell on it when she heard Gozer's voice.

"**SUBCREATURES! GOZER THE GOZERIAN, GOZER THE DESTRUCTOR, VOLGUUS ZILDROHAR, THE TRAVELER, HAS COME! **_**CHOOSE AND PERISH!**_"


	19. Chapter 18

**I DON'T OWN GHOSTBUSTERS OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN ROSE.**

**AN: Here we go. The last chapter...**

**Chapter 18**

**"**_**CHOOSE AND PERISH**_!" Gozer's disembodied voice yelled out. Ray looked very confused and called back, "What do you mean, choose? We don't understand!"

But Rose thought she did. And her thoughts were proven correct when Gozer replied in a booming voice that shook them all to their cores, "CHOOSE! CHOOSE THE FORM OF THE DESTRUCTOR!"

"Whoa!" Peter shouted. "I get it, I get it. Very cute!" Seeing that everyone was a little confused, Rose explained, "The form of the Destructor will be whatever we think of. So, if we thought of J. Edgar Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover would come and destroy us."

"Empty your heads," Peter commanded. "Empty them. Don't think of anything. We've only got one shot at this."

Rose did as her brother said and emptied her mind completely. She let go of all her fears and worries. She got her mind as blank as it could possibly go...

"THE CHOICE IS MADE!" boomed Gozer. "THE TRAVELER HAS COME!"

"**What?!**" Rose yelled. Peter whirled around and said, "Whoa, whoa! Nobody chose anything!" He turned to Egon and asked, "Did you choose anything?"

"No!" Egon replied. Peter turned to Winston and asked, "Did you?"

"My mind's totally blank!" Winston replied. Peter looked at Rose and she shook her head. "I didn't choose anything!" Peter said. Rose closed her eyes and then turned to Ray.

"Ray, please tell me you didn't..." Rose started. Ray, trembling something horrible, said, "I couldn't help it. It just popped in there!"

"What, Ray? What just popped in there?" Peter asked. Ray blinked and adopted the expression of a kicked puppy. "I-I tried to think.."

But Ray was cut off by the sounds of stomping and screaming coming from stories below them. "LOOK!" Egon shouted.

They all rushed to the edge of the building and looked out. "No! It can't be!" Ray wailed. Rose and Egon got the first looks at what Ray had done, and Rose let out a hysterical laugh. "Oh my god," she said.

"What is it?" Peter asked. "What did you do, Ray?!"

"Aw shit!" Winston exclaimed. Ray's expression faded to one that recalled someone who had lost all hope. "It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man," he said solemnly.

"Oh my god, Ray! What the hell? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?! Really?" Rose shouted, frantic beyond belief. Far below them, the giant marshmallow man crushed cars and sent people running for their lives.

It was roaring and snarling like Godzilla, but it's facial expression never changed. It always had this overly happy, kind of creepy smile on its face. It was actually kind of frightening.

"Well, there's something you don't see every day," Peter remarked. Rose just nodded, still frantic, but now terrified was added to that. Ray was still looking extremely guilty and said, "I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something that I loved from my childhood. Something that could never, ever possibly destroy us...Mr. Stay Puft."

"Nice thinking, Ray," Peter told him. Rose, for once, was on Peter's side. "Ray!" she wailed. "You weren't supposed to think of **anything**!"

"I know, I know," Ray groaned. "I'm sorry." Rose just shook her head. Ray then tried to explain. "We used to roast Stay Puft marshmallows by the fire, at Camp Waconda."

Ray shook his head, looking like he was about to cry. It looked to Rose as though Ray was no longer with them.

"Ray has gone bye-bye, Egon. What have you got left?" Peter asked. Egon couldn't stop gaping and staring at the enormous fluff monster wreaking havoc below them.

"Sorry, Venkman," Egon replied. "I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought." Slowly, Mr. Stay Puft approached the Ivo Shandor building and when it saw them, it roared at them ferociously.

"Oh, no," Winston said. Rose and Peter, like the siblings they were, both said, "Mother pus bucket!"

They grinned at each other before snapping their attention back to Mr. Stay Puft, just as it stepped on a church. Even though she was atheist, Rose considered wrecking a church like that infuriating.

"NOBODY STEPS ON A CHURCH IN MY TOWN!" Peter yelled. Ray finally came back to them and they all charged their proton packs. "One, two, three," Ray said, "ROAST HIM!"

They blasted Mr. Stay Puft and although it was set on fire because of it, it wasn't stopped. It screamed angrily and started the climb the building just as the fire soared up the side of the building and nearly scorched them all.

Rose hauled ass away from the edge and dragged Ray and Peter along with her. Egon and Winston followed her lead and they all ducked away and hid from Mr. Stay Puft.

"Funny, us going out like this," Ray commented. "Killed by a hundred-foot marshmallow man."

"We aren't going to die," Rose said firmly. She needed to believe it. She came far too close to death once before and she had intention of doing so again, especially not now that she had fallen in love. She wasn't letting go of that, not this easily. "There's gotta be something we can do," she said.

"We've been going about this all wrong!" Peter said. "This Mr. Stay Puft isn't so bad. He's a sailor, he's in New York; we get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble!" Rose smacked Peter without even looking at him and heard him mutter an 'ouch'.

"Peter, now is **not **the time for you to make stupid jokes. If that's all you're gonna do, don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

Before Peter could retort, Egon looked like a light bulb just exploded over his head. "I have a radical idea," Egon said. "The door swings both ways. We could reverse the particle flow through the gate."

"How?" Peter asked. But Rose knew. Somehow she already knew.

"Egon, no. No way. That's insane..." Rose told him. Egon looked at her and said, "It's the only way I can think of."

"I kinda like it. It's crazy, but I like it," Rose said and Egon shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face.

"What are you two talking about?" Peter asked. Egon turned to him and said, "We'll cross the streams."

"Uh, excuse me, Egon," Peter said, "you said crossing the streams was bad."

"Cross the streams..." Ray said, considering it. He drifted off into La-La Land and Peter said, "You're gonna endanger us, you're gonna endanger our client. The nice lady who paid us in advance before she became a dog."

Rose rolled her eyes and Egon said, "Not necessarily. There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive."

Peter thought about it and then slapped Ray in the face, shaking him out of his daydream, although it was friendly. "I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it!" Peter exclaimed. Peter and Egon hurried off and Rose and Ray took each other's hands and followed them.

Winston, who was the last to get up, said, "This job is definitely not worth eleven-five a year!"

The five of them ran over to the temple just as Mr. Stay Puft poked his head above the top of the building. "HURRY!" Egon shouted.

"See you on the other side, Ray," Peter said, switching on his proton wand. Rose realized what he was doing. He was saying his goodbyes...just in case they did actually die.

"Nice working with you, Dr. Venkman," Ray replied, switching his wand on as well. He looked at Rose, who by this time, was nearly in tears.

"Don't cry," Ray said, brushing away a stray tear. Rose breathed in shakily and said, "Ray, just in case I don't make it out, I want you to know, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. No matter what happens, I'm yours. Forever."

"I love you, too. And believe me, I feel the exact same way. But we aren't gonna die. We'll make it out. Both of us. All of us."

"But what if -?"

"Shhh," Ray said, and silenced her with a kiss. The kisses they shared were always loving and passionate, but this one by far blew them all out the water. As they kissed, each encounter with Ray flew through her mind.

_**The very first time she met him - she had been 11 years old; he had been 18 **_

_**The first time he said her name**_

_**The first time he made her laugh **_

_**The very first hug they shared**_

_**Ray's graduation from Columbia University in 1977 - Rose had been 14**_

_**The very last time she saw Ray before he, Peter, and Egon left when she was 15. That had been only months after Ray graduated from Columbia.**_

And then the more recent encounters...

_**Seeing Ray again after seven years, outside of Peter's office - her heart almost stopped when she saw him. She had missed him so much.**_

_**Being bear-hugged by Ray when he finally recognized her - she could barely breathe**_

_**The almost-kiss they had shared after the library incident**_

_**The actual kiss they shared when Rose ran after him, taking a chance - their first kiss**_

_**The realization she was in love with him**_

_**The kiss they shared when Ray was trying to fix up the Ecto-1**_

_**The very passionate kiss they shared after Ray admitted the truth about his dream...**_

_**The heartbreaking, suffocating feeling she had when she thought she lost him when the ground broke right under their feet**_

_**Telling Ray she loved him and hearing that he loved her as well...**_

And it all came down to this - they could very well die right now and Rose found that if she did - if they did - she would be sad, but then she would be dead. She wouldn't **be **anything anymore. But she found the idea didn't bother her too much when she thought about the love that she and Ray had.

When they pulled away from each other, Ray said the exact same thing she was thinking, "Death can't stop true love."

Rose nodded and the two of them turned back to the open door of the Temple of Zuul. Rose turned on her proton charger and she, Peter, and Ray all fired their beams and cross them.

"Let's turn 'em on, Egon!" Rose called. Egon and Winston switched on their chargers and fired. As they inched closer and closer to Ray's, Peter's, and Rose's crossed streams, Rose yelled out, "Hey Peter!"

"Yeah, sis?!"

"I love you! You're the best big brother anyone could ever ask for!" Rose shouted, with tears in her eyes. Peter smiled and Rose could swear there were tears in his eyes, too.

"I love you, too, kiddo!" he called. Rose grinned and then shouted, "Egon, Winston? I love you guys!"

"We love you, too Rose!" Egon called and Winston nodded his agreement. Finally, Rose looked at Ray and their eyes met, perhaps for the final time, and Rose said, "I love you. I love you."

"I love you, Rose. I love you so much -"

_**BOOM!**_

* * *

There was white everywhere. Everywhere Rose looked, there was white. There was a sweet smell all around her too. The white was nearly blinding her.

_Am I dead? _Rose thought. She couldn't be, she reasoned. She had conscious thought, for one thing. She could see for another. She tried to blink and realized that something sticky was covering her eyes. Actually, something sticky was covering her _everything_.

She tried to move and found that her entire body hurt. She could feel pain... that meant she was definitely not dead. She must have come into contact with something very hard.

But what was this sticky white stuff that was everywhere? She winced as she moved her arm and wiped her eyes. Suddenly the white was gone from her immediate vision and her eyes were met with the sight of the still night sky.

_Then what was the white stuff...? Sweet, sticky, white...oh my head hurts. Oh, wait, Mr. Stay Puft! He must have exploded...Oh my god, Ray! Where's Ray? And Peter, and Egon, and Winston? I have to get up. Come on, Rose, get up._

With every ounce of strength she still possessed she sat up and pushed herself off the ground. She was covered the marshmallow that had come from the explosion of Mr. Stay Puft.

"Ray?" she called weakly. She rubbed her head where it was sore and called, a little stronger, "Ray?!"

"Rose?" That was Ray's voice. "ROSE!"

"Move," she commanded herself and she forced herself to start walking. She saw Ray, who was just as marshmallow-y as her, emerge from the other side of the marshmallow covered building and she called, "Ray! Oh god, you're okay."

"Rose!" he jogged towards her and took her into his arms when he reached her. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm okay," she said. She looked around and spotted Winston behind Ray. "Winston, you good?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, I'm good." Rose nodded and said, "Where's Peter? And Egon? Where are they?"

"I'm right here, Rose," Egon said from behind her. She whirled around and wrapped her arms around Egon's waist. "Oh, Spengler, are you okay?" Ray asked. Egon awkwardly patted Rose the back and said, "I feel like the floor of a taxi-cab."

Rose laughed and released Egon just in time to see Peter, who had very little marshmallow on him, show up.

"Peter!" Rose cried and launched herself on her brother. Her heart felt so much lighter knowing that they were all okay. Peter didn't even stumble when Rose latched onto him. He just hugged her tightly and whispered, "Oh, Rosie... I thought for a minute..."

"I know. So did I."

They released each other and Rose fell back to be with Ray. The five of them walked towards the remnants of the Temple of Zuul. They came across a now frozen terror dog statue. Peter looked absolutely devastated and Rose knew why - this dog had once been Dana. Rose had a feeling that Peter really cared about Dana - he might have even loved her.

"Oh," Ray said, wrinkling his nose. "Smells like barbecued dog hair." Rose smacked him and Ray realized what he just said. "Oh...Venkman. Oh, Venkman, I'm sorry...I - I just forgot."

Peter walked away, sadder than Rose had ever seen him. Rose went after him and said, "Peter...I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, well -"

_Crack!_ They both whirled around and saw that the terror dog statue had broken open and a hand was reaching out - a female hand. Dana!

Peter ran forward and started lifting Dana out.

"Somebody turn on the lights! Help!"

Ray, Rose, Egon and Winston turned around and saw that the other person that had been turned into a terror dog was walking around helplessly with a terror dog head covering his own.

"Go check on that little guy!" Peter said, still trying to help Dana out. The four others ran over to the little guy and Egon and Ray lifted off the terror dog head.

"What happened?" he asked.

"What's your name?" Rose asked him. He looked at her and said, "Oh, I'm Louis Tully."

Rose nodded and Egon said, "He'll be alright." Louis looked around at the damage and said, "Boy, the superintendent's gonna be pissed!"

Rose smiled as Ray said, "Are you okay?"

Louis looked around at them all and said, "Who are you guys?" Ray grinned and said, rather proudly, "We're the Ghostbusters."

"Oh," Louis said. "Who does your taxes?" Peter started leading Dana away and Ray, Egon, and Rose followed with Louis.

"You know, Mr. Tully, you are a most fortunate individual!" Ray said. _No kidding_, Rose thought.

"I know!" Louis replied, although he seemed like he was a little out of it. Ray smiled and continued, "You have been a participant in the biggest interdimensional cross-rip since the Tunguska blast of 1909!"

"Felt great!" Louis told him. Rose doubted this, but then again, Louis was not entirely right in the head at the moment. And then, of course, Egon said, "We'd like to get a sample of your brain tissue."

"Okay..." Louis agreed wearily. Winston, who had followed after them, threw up his arms and yelled, "I LOVE THIS TOWN!"

When they finally exited the building, Rose was pretty sure she almost went deaf from all the cheering. And then Peter kissed Dana, which sent the crowd into a happy frenzy. Ray was about to pull out a cigarette but then he looked at Rose and threw it away.

"Ah, who needs it?" he said. "I've got you." Rose grinned and kissed him happily. "We did it, love," Rose said. Ray grinned and said, "I know. And now, I think I'd like to take a very long nap, with you right by my side."

"Sounds good to me, Ray," Rose said. She laughed when Egon came out of the building and Janine came running up to him. "Egon!" she cried.

"Go get him, Janine!" Rose cheered as Janine ran straight into Egon's arms. Ray chuckled and put his arm around Rose's shoulders. She wrapped her arm around his waist and they started walking to the Ecto-1.

"Hey, how long do you think it'll take Egon and Janine to get together?" Rose asked Ray. Ray laughed and said, "Knowing Egon...years. Hopefully he'll get his head outta his ass one day. There are plenty of girls out there who'd love to have a guy like Egon, and Janine is one of them."

"I know. But Egon is a man of science. He's married to his work."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not though," Ray added. "I could be married to someone else..."

"Huh?" Rose asked, not quite understanding. Ray stopped walking and said, "I know we've only been together for about two months, but I've known you and loved you for so much longer. And I know I don't have a ring, but...Rose Margaret Venkman, will you marry me?"

Rose was shocked. She almost didn't answer Ray, she was so shocked. They had been together for only two months, but she loved Ray with her entire being and she knew she'd never love another the same way.

For that matter, she'd never love another, period. She was Ray's, happily, forever.

And that was why, when she looked into Ray's soulful eyes, she said this:

"Yes. Yes, Ray, of course, I'll marry you."

Ray smiled and pulled her into a searing kiss. "I'll get you a ring first thing tomorrow, I promise," Ray said.

"Ray, I don't care about the ring. What matters to me is that we know, and those close to us know. The ring can wait, love," Rose told him. He grinned and said, "I know, but I want the world to know that someday soon, you're going to be Mrs. Rose Stantz."

Rose shrugged and said, "Okay. That's sounds good to me. Hmm, Mrs. Rose Stantz...Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Stantz. I can't even express how much I love that sound of that. How about we tell everyone tomorrow?"

"Yeah, and I'll propose with the ring, in front of everyone!" Ray exclaimed.

Rose leaned her head against Ray's shoulder and, as they walked towards the Ecto-1 and got into it, she thought, _I guess 'Happily Ever After' really does exist, after all._

* * *

**There you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading 'The Flower and The Heart'! Thank you for sticking with me through this story and the rather long hiatus it was on. You guys are so awesome. Thank you all.**


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